Toronto Blue Jays fans incensed as Kevin Gausman torched for eight runs in four innings vs. Boston Red Sox: "Most overrated starter in MLB" 

The Boston Red Sox ate Toronto Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman alive at Fenway Park on Thursday.

Blue Jays fans are facing the prospect of dropping to fourth place in the American League East after Gausman was torched for eight runs in less than four innings by the Red Sox.

Gausman never allowed more than five earned runs in a start last season. He was lit up for five earned runs in the second inning alone in Toronto's series finale against Boston.

Kevin Gausman had been one of the Toronto Blue Jays most reliable pitchers during the starting staff's roller-coaster season. Entering the game, he was 2-2 with a 2.33 ERA and 1.01 WHIP.

However, when he was pulled after 88 pitches through 3-1/3 innings, he had allowed 10 hits and one walk as well as eight earned runs. The Blue Jays were down 7-1 when he departed. Reliever Tim Mayza allowed one of the runners charged to Gausman to score.

Gausman gave up one home run in the game. The player to claim it was Boston Red Sox rookie outfielder Masataka Yoshida, who took Gausman deep to right-center in the first inning. The homer upped Yoshida's hitting streak to 14 games, the longest active streak in MLB this season.

Yoshida went 3-for-3 off of Gausman to boost his batting average to .324. When his hit streak began, Yoshida was hitting a paltry .167.

Red Sox fans had a field day with Gausman's failed effort.

Yoshida was far from the only Boston Red Sox batter to have a field day on Kevin Gausman. Designated hitter Justin Turner, third baseman Rafael Devers, and center fielder Jarred Duran all went 2-for-3 against him. Devers logged two RBIs, with Yoshida scoring three times and right fielder Raimel Tapia scoring twice.

The Red Sox made an aboslute mockery of the Toronto Blue Jays pitching staff over the current four-game series. Kevin Gausman just happened to get the worst of it. Jose Berrios, Yusei Kikuchi, and Alek Manoah were all hit for five earned runs in the first three games of the series before Gausman's eighth-spot.

Kevin Gausman's stinker is Toronto Blue Jays loss and Boston Red Sox gain

Kevin Gausman #34 of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches

Gausman laid the groundwork for the Boston Red Sox to sweep the four-game series and leapfrog the Toronto Blue Jays to third place in the ultra-competitive American League East. Heading into Thursday, Boston had won seven of its last 10 games.