TORONTO -- R. Carolina Hurricanes Shirts .A. Dickey, his knuckleball moving like the noggin on his bobblehead giveaway, gave the Toronto Blue Jays a sorely needed quality start Sunday. And the rest of the team also stepped up, with Brett Lawrie and Edwin Encarnacion combining to drive in four runs in a 7-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox. Toronto (12-13) leaves for an eight-game road trip, which starts Tuesday in Kansas City, having washed away the taste of a sour four-game losing streak at home. The Jays, who had given up 36 runs on 47 hits and 22 walks during the four-game slide, badly needed a change of direction. Dickey said a talk by manager John Gibbons after Saturdays 7-6 loss, when a Jays comeback fell just short, had done the trick. "He was just so encouraging," said Dickey, who got the win on his first major-league bobblehead giveaway day. "I think everybody left the clubhouse feeling at ease about who we are as a team. So we just needed to come out today and be ourselves. And we were able to do that. "We fought hard. Guys were getting dirty, diving for balls, taking the extra base. I was able to throw strikes and we had a great team win today." Said Gibbons: "It was a much-needed win, I will definitely say." 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: Encarnacion, Jose Reyes, Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista, Juan Francisco and Moises Sierra. The Dominicans signed the lineup card, which Bautista said was going to be sent to the Dominican Museum of Baseball. "It was an honour to be part of that today," said Reyes. An announced sellout of 45,260 at the Rogers Centre saw Dickey outduel Jon Lester with Lawrie providing the early offence before the Jays put the game away with two runs in the seventh and three in the eighth. Lawrie, 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 (2-3) scattered five hits over 6 1/3 innings, giving up one run and striking out six. 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 -- with Dickey tied for the MLB lead with 18. But Dickey was in control Sunday. He threw 95 pitches, including 62 strikes, and didnt issue a walk for the first time since October 2012. "When I have one to zero to two walks, its usually going to be a pretty good day," he said. "And thats what I have to get back to and today was a step in that direction." 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 since April 5 and came after three starts in which he went 0-2 with 13 walks in 13 1/3 innings. He used his fastball more than usual, knowing that Boston led the league in pitches seen. "So I knew they were probably going to be patient. And nothings worse than seeing a fastball down the middle from a knuckleball pitcher and letting it go," he added. Some observers thought Dickey seemed irked at being pulled in the seventh inning. The pitcher, who has faded in some previous starts, said hes just "passionate" about what he does. He acknowledged he had told both Gibbons and pitching coach Pete Walker to keep a close eye on him in case he did falter. After the Jays went ahead 2-1 in the third, Dickey and Lester took turns mowing down the opposition. It took some time but Toronto bats finally came alive, welcome news for Dickey who had only got five runs in support before leaving in his five previous starts. 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. Lawrie has just 17 hits this season but seven have been for extra-base hits. Toronto went ahead 2-1 in the third on Cabreras two-out RBI double, sending Josh Thole home. Thole, Dickeys personal catcher, singled down the left-field line and then advanced on Jonathan Diazs sacrifice bunt. Cabrera, who came into the game leading the majors in hits, now has 39 including 13 of the extra-base variety. Dickey was slated to head home after the game, with a couple of bobbleheads under his arm for his kids. "Theyre not going to be collectors at my house," he said. "The heads are going to be popped off by the end of the day." Hurricanes Jerseys 2020 . With the Pirates in the thick of the race in the NL Central, the timing couldnt be better. Liriano struck out a season-high 11 in seven innings to win consecutive starts for the first time this season and Pittsburgh beat the San Francisco Giants 3-1 on Tuesday night. Stitched Hurricanes Jerseys . The Extreme Heat Policy was enacted at Melbourne Park just before 2 p.m. Thursday, suspending all matches on outer courts until the early evening and requiring the closure of the retractable roofs at Rod Laver and Hisense arenas before play could continue on the show courts. https://www.cheaphurricanes.com/ .Y. - Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby captured his second career Art Ross trophy on Sunday after leading the NHL in scoring this season.I have no idea why Jonathan Martin left the Miami Dolphins but as more time moves on, it seems like Richie Incognito is a special kind of disgusting human being. Some will say that Martin is too sensitive while others will say that it is part of the way football is in the locker room. But to have to absorb what was said to him for any rational and intelligent person is too much. There are absolutely and positively limits to what is tolerated and accepted when it comes to hazing and harassing as a player, and this was way over the line. Should Jonathan Martin have stood up for himself more? Perhaps, but I am sure he feared even more isolation than he has already experienced, so you kind of roll with the punches - to a point. There is not a human being on the planet that does not have a breaking point when it comes to handling pressure because we are biological not mechanical in our physiology. And given the same circumstances, many would exit the environment if they felt there was no respect for themselves as a human being and their life was threatened. If I was to take sides, I would take the side of Martin because he is educated; his family is educated. Stanford and Harvard are places of advanced human evolution. I doubt Richie Incognito is educated after being kick out of both the University of Oregon and Nebraska. Again, moments like this make football players look like idiots of the highest kind and there are quite a few. And there are others of the extreme opposite that represent themselves with class and dignity of the highest level. The truth is that in high level football, sometimes you have to be aggressive and other times analytical, and those moments interact countless times over the course of a season and game. But that is controllable and accepted. I think that what Martin was experiencing he could not rationalize or accept as controllable or acceptable. A football locker room sometimes - and I do want to emphasize sometimes - is a very intimidating place. There is immense money to be earned from people in the majority of cases coming from no money. There is a constant and tangible pressure to compete against another team, another player on anotheer team, other players on your team and in many ways, yourself. Hurricanes Jerseys 2021. There is little gratification in winning because within 12 hours after you win, all discussion is about the next game and how to win that one. College football is not the same. You have more "friends" that you will have at any point of your life because youre all similar in age and experience. In pro football as a rookie who is not starting and contributing, youre lucky if you have two "friends." Playing and being a part of the starters group would accelerate to more than two because of one word: respect. When you start, it is like moving up in football society; a new neighborhood of similar real estate value. That is one of the reasons that this is a bit confusing in that Jonathan Martin did start and played right beside Incognito, and truth is they need each other to excel as individual players. But I wonder if Incognito resented Martins education and class - a Stanford product that was a first round pick and is naturally athletic -and I cant help but wonder how many other players accepted this and enhanced it. Whether it is Justin Blackmon, Aldon Smith, Brandon Meriweather and others of less notoriety, the opportunity and the benefits of the opportunity are being thrown away. Coaches want dependability and performance and of the two, the first is more important than the second because without the first you cant create the second. In retrospect, it is so easy to express what should have been done; Martin should have stood up for himself more, Incognito should grow up and act like an adult and Joe Philbin should be in touch with his team to a much higher degree. The people who make decisions on free agent personal should put a bigger emphasis on character. There is lots of blame to go around. In the end, the truth may be out there but no guarantee of it becoming public knowledge. One career is destroyed - Incognito - while one is in the balance - Martin. And yes, the sport of football takes another shot as to the quality of people involved. There are many; we just dont hear about them as we have with Incognito. What a contradiction of a last name. ' ' '