Toro also came up big on defense in the seventh. With two on and two outs, Matt Olson hit a smash up the middle that Trevor Story made a nice play on but then uncorked a wild throw that appeared to pull Toro off the bag, which would have given the Braves a run, narrowing Boston’s lead to one, and left runners at the corners for Austin Riley. On replay, though, it was determined that Toro held the bag while diving to his right, resulting in an inning-ending out. Toro is now hitting .294/.294/.549 in 51 plate appearances for the Red Sox.

The second homer came with the Red Sox down 2-0 in the ninth. It looked like Jorge Mateo had a bead on in in center field, but he ended up flipping over the short wall as the ball bounced off his glove. Fortunately, he was able to remain in afterwards. Toro is 9-for-34 for the Red Sox, but now that he has three homers, he might be in line for some additional time at first base.

With Romy Gonzalez nursing a back injury following a collision at first base on Wednesday, Toro will make his first start for Boston this season. It doesn’t seem like Gonzalez will be out for too long though.

Toro provides Boston with an experienced stopgap solution at first base in the wake of Triston Casas suffering a serious left knee injury during Friday’s game against the Twins. The 28-year-old journeyman has hit .323 with two homers in 27 games this season at the Triple-A level. He holds a lifetime .220/.285/.353 triple-slash line in 365 games in the big leagues since 2019.