BY MIKE CORMACK
sportsnet.ca
TORONTO -- Exactly one month into his big-league career Brett Lawrie continues to impress, perhaps no one more so than his manager John Farrell.
The 21-year-old rookie third basemen's latest heroics came in the form of an 11th inning walkoff home run to give the Blue Jays a 1-0, Labour Day win over the Boston Red Sox before 27,573 at Rogers Centre.
The win was just Toronto's (70-71) second in their past seven games and comes on the heels of a weekend sweep in New York at the hands of the Yankees.
Lawrie -- who was promoted from triple-A Las Vegas on Aug. 5 -- sent a Dan Wheeler (2-2) offering high into the centre-field seats for his eighth home run in his first 30 MLB games to make a winner out of Shawn Camp (3-3).
"In one month's time, what a splash and what a start to a big-league career," raved Farrell following the game. "We've seen it not just today. This is a recurring theme here. He's had some very big hits late in the game."
In addition to the eight home runs, Lawrie has driven in 21 and has posted a slash line of .318/.381/.682 with Toronto.
"I don't really feel any pressure, it's just another at-bat," Lawrie said when asked how he felt stepping into the box against Wheeler. "If you go up there feeling pressure and you apply that on yourself then you're not going to have a good at-bat."
Meanwhile, another 21-year-old Blue Jays rookie, starter Henderson Alvarez, also turned some heads, including those in the opposing dugout.
The hard-throwing Venezuelan right-hander shut out the Red Sox over six innings to extend his scoreless inning streak to 14 after blanking the Baltimore Orioles for eight innings in his previous start.
"He had tremendous movement, just natural movement," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "The ball was diving all over the place."
In the fifth inning, the two Toronto 21-year-olds teamed up for a defensive gem.
Following a Marco Scutaro double, Alvarez snared a one-hopper back to the mound off the bat of Jacoby Ellsbury and immediately looked back to second, where he caught a startled Scutaro too far off the bag, leading to a rundown.
After tagging out Scutaro at third, Lawrie then alertly fired to second to double-up Ellsbury as he tried to take the extra base.
Farrell said the grace under fire exhibited on the play by his two youngsters spoke to a shared quality bigger than their athleticism.
"(Alvarez) makes a heck of a play on a hard shot back off Ellsbury's bat," he said. "He knows exactly who's at second base, checks him, finds that he's 30 feet off the bag, otherwise we might not be looking at Brett Lawrie's home run with any significance, if that play's not made.
"These are special individuals."
Farrell, who returned to the Jays dugout for the first time in 10 days since being diagnosed with pneumonia, also had plenty of praise for his bullpen.
The quartet of Carlos Villanueva, Casey Janssen, Frank Francisco and Shawn Camp combined to throw five scoreless innings in relief of Alvarez.
Francisco, who pitched the ninth and 10th, has now thrown 16 consecutive scoreless innings.
Boston starter Josh Beckett was effective early on -- striking out six through 3.2 innings -- but exited the game in the fourth inning after spraining his right ankle.
Three Red Sox relievers (Alfredo Aceves, Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon) held the fort before Wheeler came in for the 11th.
As for the injury, Beckett said it's too soon to tell whether he'll be forced to miss any time.
"I've never had anything like this," he explained. "I could wake up tomorrow and feel like going and playing basketball. We'll just see. Let's not put the cart in front of the horse. Let's do our due diligence. Apparently the foot doctor we have is one of the best, so I'll go and see him."
NOTES: Earlier Monday, the Blue Jays reinstated RHP Dustin McGowan from the 60-day DL. Farrell said Monday the 29-year-old will be used out of the bullpen for the remainder of the season, and will most likely pitch at some point during Tuesday's game against Boston ... Shortstop Yunel Escobar missed his second straight game after injuring his left wrist Saturday. There was hope he might play Monday and he's still listed as day-to-day.
