Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey celebrates bobblehead day with win over Boston Red Sox

TORONTO – R.A. Dickey, on his bobblehead day, outduelled Jon Lester and Brett Lawrie provided the early offence as the Toronto Blue Jays ended a four-game slide with a 7-1 win Sunday over the Boston Red Sox.

On a weekend where racism in sports made headlines thanks to Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, the Jays made Major League Baseball history with a record six Dominicans in the starting lineup: Jose Reyes, Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Juan Francisco and Moises Sierra.

But a Canadian and American took the early leading roles for Toronto (12-13) in front of an announced sellout of 45,260 before the Jays put the game away with two runs in the seventh and three in the eighth.

Lawrie, a native of Langley, B.C., who entered the game hitting .165 but leading the team in RBIs, drove in two runs with a homer and double to increase his RBI total to 20.

Dickey, a native of Nashville, scattered five hits over 6 1/3 innings, giving up one run and striking out six.

Relievers Steve Delabar and Esmil Rogers closed out the game for Toronto, which outhit Boston 9-6.

Lester (2-4) deserved better from his seven innings. He gave up four runs on five hits, striking out seven and walking none. He threw 120 pitches, 80 for strikes, as Boston (12-14) was denied its first sweep of Toronto since June 10-12, 2011.

The Boston left-hander came into the game with a 15-7 career mark against Toronto, having held the Jays to a .199 batting average.

It was the first win for Dickey (2-3) since April 5 and came after three starts in which he went 0-2 with 13 walks in 13 1/3 innings.

Walks have been a thorn in the Jays side. Toronto pitchers had issued 108 free passes going into play Sunday, second-worst in the majors.

But Dickey was in control of his knuckleball Sunday. He threw 95 pitches, including 62 strikes. And he didn’t issue a walk, after coming into the game tied for the major-league lead with 18 free passes from his first five starts.

The former Cy Young Award-winner has received next to no run support this season. In his six starts, Dickey has got just seven runs from his offence.

After the Jays went ahead 2-1 in the third, Dickey and Lester took turns mowing down the opposition.

Dickey retired 10 straight before hitting Will Middlebrooks to open the seventh. Xander Bogaerts doubled one out later, sending Middlebrooks to third and Dickey to the dugout — to warm applause for his efforts.

Delabar dispatched the next two batters to end the threat.

Toronto increased its lead to 4-1 in the seventh on back-to-back doubles by Encarnacion and Lawrie and an RBI groundout by Sierra. Lester had retired 10 straight prior to the inning.

Reyes scored on an RBI single by Bautista — who extended his on-base streak to 25 games — in the eighth before Encarnacion drove in two more with another double.

Dickey retired his first five hitters before giving up a run on three straight singles with the RBI going to Jackie Bradley Jr. Lawrie tied it up with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the second, depositing a 3-2 Lester delivery into left-centre for his sixth homer — and just 16th hit — of the season.

Toronto went ahead 2-1 in the third on Cabrera’s two-out RBI double, sending Josh Thole home. Thole, Dickey’s personal catcher, singled down the left-field line and then advanced on Jonathan Diaz’s sacrifice bunt.

It was Cabrera’s 38th hit — and 13th extra-base hit — of the season. He came into the game leading the majors in hits.

Toronto had given up 36 runs on 47 hits and 22 walks during the four-game losing streak.

NOTES: Toronto begins an eight-game road trip Tuesday in Kansas City. … Boston returns home for an eight-game homestand beginning Tuesday against Tampa Bay. … Jays closer Casey Janssen, returning from an oblique problem, threw a bullpen session Sunday which he said went well. … Sierra, who took a foul ball off the leg earlier in the game, exited in the eighth inning.