Starting pitcher Dylan Cease flirted with disaster multiple times on Tuesday night, but he skirted it each time as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox 6-1 at Fenway Park.

With the win, the Blue Jays improved to 35-38 on the year. They are 10 games back of the New York Yankees in the American League East, but just one game back of the final wild card spot.

Cease, who was signed to a seven-year, $210 million contract this offseason, earned the win after going five innings. He threw 108 pitches in those five innings, giving up no runs on four hits. He walked four and struck out seven. Though it was inefficient, it was also effective. Cease improved to 4-3 with the win and lowered his ERA to 2.71.

As noted by StatsCentre on social media, that ERA is the fifth-lowest of any Jays pitcher in his first 13 starts with the franchise. Only Roger Clemens (1.94), Jimmy Key (2.47), Tom Candiotti (2.58) and Marcus Stroman (2.59) have been better.

Clemens won the Cy Young in that '97 season and each one of those pitchers except Candiotti made at least one All-Star Game in their career.

Cease, 30, is seeking his first All-Star Game appearance this summer. One of the best strikeout pitchers in baseball, he's now fanned 110 batters in 73.0 innings. He has five straight seasons of 200 strikeouts or more and also has five straight seasons of 30 starts or more.

Remarkably durable, Cease's trip to the injured list earlier this season was the first of his career. He's still on track to hit the 30-start threshold if he continues to stay healthy.

Offensively, the Blue Jays got home runs from Davis Schneider, George Springer and Andres Gimenez. It was the seventh homer of the season for Gimenez and the third for Schneider, who was recently called back up from Triple-A. Springer now has seven as well.

Max Scherzer will take the ball for Toronto on Wednesday while the Red Sox counter with left-hander Jake Bennett.

Scherzer is 1-4 with a 10.23 ERA this season while the rookie Bennett is 1-2 with a 5.28 ERA. Scherzer recorded the 3,500th strikeout of his illustrious career in his last time out: Now he'll need to focus on pitching well enough to keep his rotation spot moving forward.

With Shane Bieber barreling toward a return from injury, the concern about Scherzer's future role is real.

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