of his bouts in Russia with two in Estonia and his past two in

BOSTON – Josh Johnson wasnt looking for excuses. "No," replied Johnson when asked if he felt he was getting squeezed by home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman early in Fridays 7-5 loss to the Red Sox. "I mean, thats part of the game. I dont ever complain about the calls or anything like that." Johnsons performance of 3 1/3 innings, five earned runs on eight hits and a whopping 90 pitches, had manager John Gibbons rolling through his bullpen once again. "We got beat up in the rotation again," said Gibbons. "That makes it tough." Johnsons evening of hard labour came one night after Chien-Ming Wang was shelled for seven runs in just 1 2/3 innings. The math wont come up Blue Jays here: the bullpens been taxed for 11 innings of work in 24 hours. "We battled to come back and tie it," said Gibbons, crediting his offence for overcoming an early 5-0 deficit. "They dropped two on us, again, real quick. But the bullpen cant be perfect every night, theyve been pitching so well. It starts with the starter and theyve been taking it to us pretty good." Toronto chipped away with three runs in the fifth, one in the sixth and the tying run in the seventh on Edwin Encarnacions club-leading 23rd home run. In the bottom half, Neil Wagner was chased from the game after back to back singles by Shane Victorino and Dustin Pedroia, both of whom would later come around to score, breaking the 5-5 logjam. It would have been inconceivable in spring training to consider the notion of Johnson having but one win as a Blue Jay at the halfway point of the season. But, due in part to injury and in part to inconsistency when available, the lone victory is all Johnson has to show for his time in Toronto. The Blue Jays werent taking the bait on the subject of Dreckman, who appeared to have a fluctuating strike zone early in the ball game, one that benefitted Bostons rookie starter, Allen Webster. On the fourth pitch of the game, with the count 2-1, Jose Reyes took a second strike that, according to the Red Soxs TV rightholders "K-Box," was slightly off the outside corner of the plate. A fair call, if its made consistently and for both pitchers. It wasnt. Johnson was forced to grind through deep count strikeouts of Jacoby Ellsbury and Victorino in the first. In both at-bats, Johnson was just off the outside corner with fastballs similar to Websters versus Reyes. Those pitches were called balls. In the second, Johnson battled Mike Napoli to a full count but lost him to a walk, then fell behind 2-1 to left-hand hitting Daniel Nava on another close pitch. Nava would single, both he and Napoli would later score and the Red Sox were off to the races. Johnson struggled. He didnt pitch well enough to win. To his credit, he didnt make excuses when offered an opportunity to do so. That said, its reasonable to argue Johnson was forced to pitch a different game than Webster, a game which required him to cut more of the plate with his pitches. Bostons offence, chalk full of notoriously patient hitters, sat on ready made fastballs and sliders which didnt have their customary break. It added up to a tough night. Toronto dropped to 1-4 on the road trip and now the best the Jays can hope for this weekend is a split of this series at Fenway Park. ROGERS LOOKS TO BOUNCE BACK Esmil Rogers gets the start in Saturdays late afternoon game against the Red Sox. Hes looking to bounce back after taking the loss in a 4-1 defeat on Monday in Tampa Bay. "I dont try to worry about nothing," said Rogers. "Im just trying to go into the game like the same as I do right now. The confidence I lost was just one inning, the third inning thats it, the other innings it was great. Ive just got to get everything back and get ready for tomorrow." In four starts since taking the rotation spot of the injured Brandon Morrow (forearm strain), Rogers is 2-1 with a 2.67 ERA. Left-hander Felix Doubront (4-3, 4.33) is scheduled to pitch for the Red Sox. KAWASAKI RETURNS Munenori Kawasaki returned to the Blue Jays clubhouse after a two-day stop with Triple-A Buffalo. He didnt miss a beat with the media. "Good to see you," he said. As for his brief time in the minor leagues: "Buffalo," he said. "I like Buffalo teammates. Good. Everybody nice guy. I appreciate it. Thank you very much." Asked what he hoped to accomplish this go-around: "I cant speak English." The affable 32-year-old embraced teammates upon arriving in the clubhouse. MILLER PASSES AWAY The Blue Jays are mourning the death of pitcher Justin Miller, a member of the 2002, 2004 and 2005 teams. Miller, 35, was found dead at his home in Palm Harbor, Florida. No cause of death has been released. Miller had a career 24-14 record with a 4.82 ERA over 216 appearances, 33 starts. He had appeared most recently for the Dodgers in 2010.Under Armour Curry Shoes Sales . It was the second consecutive win for the Pacers (2-5), who lost their first five preseason games. Jeff Teague led the Hawks (1-5) with 17 points and eight assists and Al Horford had 12 points and seven rebounds. Mike Scott scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. Curry 2 Shoes Cheap . Batiste, who briefly signed with the Eskimos in 2006, has spent time with several NFL teams including the Pittsburgh Steelers and Washington Redskins. http://www.curryshoesclearance.com/ua-curry-2-shoes.html . No. 13-seeded John Isner and No. 21 Philipp Kohlschreiber were among six players who dropped out of the tournament on Tuesday, joining No. 12 seed Tommy Haas and two other players who withdrew on Monday. Ua Curry 1 Cheap . The Islanders dealt Thomas Vanek to the Montreal Canadiens after less than a year on Long Island. 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But now that hes in the NHL, the Calgary Flames centre showed big improvement in that department by scoring the winner in the eighth round of a 5-4 shootout victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Monday.First middleweight titleholder Billy Joe Saunders called out unified titleholder Gennady Golovkin and then promptly turned down a career-high seven-figure payday to face him.Then, when offered a guaranteed fight with superstar Canelo Alvarez if he would first defeat Gabriel Rosado, Willie Monroe Jr. or Curtis Stevens -- his camps choice -- in the co-feature of Alvarezs fight with Liam Smith on Sept. 17, Saunders rejected all of those second-tier opponents.Englands Saunders (23-0 12 KOs) wanted only to face unknown Russian Artur Akavov (16-1 7 KOs), but since he was not even a second-tier contender and was wholly unknown, Golden Boy declined to put that fight on Alvarezs card.But on Friday, Saunders got his man. He will face Akavov on Oct. 22 at the Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, Wales, promoter Frank Warren announced.After turning down the fight with Golovkin, Saunders was scheduled to make his first title defense against Ukraines Max Bursak on April 30 in London, but pulled out after suffering a left hand injury.Then Saunders, 27, was supposed to make his first defense on the Tyson Fury-Wladimir Klitschko II undercard on Oct. 29 in Manchester, England, but the fight was moved up one week when the heavyweight championship rematch was canceled last week due to Furys withdrawal.Now he will make defense No. 1 against fellow southpaw Akavov, nearly a year after he eked out a majority decision to win the 160-pound belt from Irelands Andy Lee in December.Nothing comes easy in boxing and Im definitely not taking Akavov for granted, Saunders said. Hes a strong fighter and very dangerous and if I dont come in 100 percent, then he could cause an upset in my first title defense. Im going to make sure Im in the shape of my life and give Akavov the toughest nightt hes ever had.dddddddddddd Hes never been stopped before so this is going to be a first for him.Warren still hopes to still make an Alvarez-Saunders or Golovkin-Saunders unification fight in 2017 but said Saunders needed to get back into the ring before either is possible.This is Bills first fight in 10 months, Warren said. The Russian is a tough guy who is capable of making things awkward. Hopefully, Bill will shake off the ring rust with a successful defense to set up a super fight for early [in the new] new year.Akavov, 28, has won 11 fights in a row since an eight-round unanimous decision loss to novice pro Oleg Liseev in 2012 in Russia, but he has never faced even a fringe contender. He has fought all but four of his bouts in Russia with two in Estonia and his past two in New York after linking up with promoter Lou DiBella.I know why they picked me as an opponent, Akavov said. Although I am very honored and proud to fight for the WBO world championship, at the same time, I promise to prove that the Saunders camp [was] gravely mistaken with whatever they were expecting of me in the ring. I represent my family first and my country and that alone will not let me fail.Said DiBella: I know that the champion Billy Joe Saunders is a professional, so I hope hes not looking past Akavov. Artur Akavov is a tough SOB who will bring the fight to Billy Joe. If this is a keep busy fight, the champion better be prepared for a tough night. Artur is no joke.British junior middleweight champion Liam Williams (15-0-1, 10 KOs), 24, of Wales, is also on the card in a defense against Londons 28-year-old Ahmet Patterson (17-0, 7 KOs). ' ' '