Toronto, ON -- (Sports Network) - Shea Hillenbrand singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as the Toronto Blue Jays edged the Boston Red Sox, 7-6, in the opener of a three-game set at Rogers Centre.

Tied 6-6, Manny Delcarmen was lifted for Dave Riske to begin the home half of the eighth. Bengie Molina lined a bullet down the left-field line, spraying chalk into the air, but third base umpire Larry Young called the ball foul. Molina then hit a double into the right-center gap, pinch runner Eric Hinske moved to third on Aaron Hill's sacrifice bunt and with the infield pulled in, pinch hitter Hillenbrand singled to left, plating Hinske.

"I was thinking strong mentally," said Molina. "I don't like to give up at- bats. I saw it fair. I don't know what the replay was, but I wasn't going to go down like that. I wanted a pitch in the zone to hit."

Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay each homered and Molina went 3-for-4 with a run batted in and a run scored for the Blue Jays, who have won three of their last four games.

B.J. Ryan (1-0) picked up the win with 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Starter Roy Halladay gave up three runs on seven hits in seven strong innings for the no- decision.

Mark Loretta extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a pair of hits and a run scored and Jason Varitek hit a three-run homer for the Red Sox, who began a stretch of 16 of their next 20 games on the road, including a season-long 10-game road trip.

Coco Crisp went 2-for-4 with a homer and has hit in all seven games as a member of the Red Sox, who had a four-game winning streak snapped. Riske (0-1) recorded the loss, allowing a run on two hits in two-thirds of an inning.

Manny Ramirez returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games with a nagging back injury and hit a two-run homer. Ramirez's shot was his 50th against Toronto, the most by any player. The home run also gave Ramirez 211 as a member of the Red Sox, moving him past Rico Petrocelli for eighth on the franchise list. Jimmie Foxx is up next with 222 long balls.

The Blue Jays got on the board first with a pair of runs off the bat of Wells. Alex Rios drew a one-out walk, advanced to second on Kevin Youkilis' fielding error on a pickoff attempt and scored as Wells crushed a 3-2 slider to left for his fifth homer of the year against the Red Sox.

Toronto added four more runs in the fourth to take a 6-0 lead. Overbay led off the frame with a homer to right center. Gregg Zaun then singled to right, advanced to second on the play on Trot Nixon's fielding error and scored on Molina's base hit to right for a 4-0 margin. Molina moved to third on Hill's two-bagger and both runners were sent home on Rios' single to center.

After giving up a pair of singles to begin the game, Halladay settled down and retired 13 of the next 14 batters until Crisp smacked a deep fly over the right-field fence in the fifth, narrowing the gap to 6-1.

The Red Sox cut the deficit in half, 6-3, in the sixth inning. Halladay hit David Ortiz with a pitch and Ramirez made him pay by drilling his 12th home run of the season to left center.

Boston came all the way back from being down six runs to tie the game in the eighth. Scott Downs replaced Halladay and hit Loretta before walking Ortiz. Justin Speier relieved Downs and struck out Ramirez and got Nixon to pop up, but Varitek hit the game-tying homer to right on an 0-1 offering.

"Yeah, we made it interesting," continued Molina. "We didn't make a couple of pitches. We have to come back tomorrow and win another one."

Matt Clement, who was hit in the right ankle in his last start against the New York on May 24, lasted just 3 1/3 innings, yielding six runs on seven hits and a pair of walks.

Game Notes

Toronto purchased the contract of infielder Edgardo Alfonzo from Double-A New Hampshire, and placed infielder John McDonald on the 15-day disabled list. The Blue Jays also transferred pitcher A.J. Burnett from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day disabled list, despite throwing off the mound at Rogers Centre on Monday...Red Sox pitcher David Wells will miss his scheduled start on Wednesday. No announcement has been made as to who will take his spot...Overbay has three homers in his last two games...Boston, which had a league-low 15 errors coming into the contest, committed a pair of miscues in the game...Toronto's Gustavo Chacin (5-1) is expected to be activated from the 15-day disabled list to pitch against Josh Beckett (7-1) on Tuesday...Ramirez has 24 homers and 75 RBI at SkyDome/Rogers Centre...Youkilis had an 11-game run-scoring streak snapped.