TORONTO (Ticker) -- The Boston Red Sox ended a long 10-game road trip with a spark from the top.
Leadoff batter Johnny Damon had three hits, including a pair of homers, drove in three runs and scored three times as the Red Sox salvaged the finale of their three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays with an 8-7 win.
Trot Nixon also had three hits and three RBI and delivered the pivotal blow, a tie-breaking two-run homer in the eighth inning. Damon, who homered in the third, gave Boston a pair of much-needed insurance runs with a two-run shot in the ninth.
Mike Timlin (1-0), who nearly surrendered a four-run lead in the ninth, notched the win - Boston's fifth on the trip.
"We've been struggling out of the pen," Timlin said. "But we're going to pick it up and we'll pitch better. I threw the ball pretty good. I missed some spots and one time, I paid for it. But those runs don't mean anything because we still won."
"We definitely finished the trip the way we wanted to," Damon added. "We had a chance to go home even at .500, so this was a big win."
Cliff Politte (0-1) allowed Nixon's homer and took the loss as Toronto had a five-game winning streak snapped.
"That's a big loss," Politte said. "We had things rolling for a while. We battled all game and it's pretty aggravating when you lose."
Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay remained winless, allowing four runs and seven hits in seven innings. He walked just one and struck 10, the most by a Toronto pitcher since Halladay fanned 11 on September 19, 2001.
"I felt that after the first couple of innings, I threw the ball better," he said. "They had some well-placed hits early and scored some runs, but after that I felt a lot better."
Boston's Manny Ramirez went hitless for the first time in 10 games this season. It also marked the first time in 23 games - dating to last season - he has not gotten a hit.
The Red Sox broke on top in the first as Damon singled, stole second, took third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly by Nomar Garciaparra.
Boston tacked on a run in the second on an RBI single by Nixon, but Toronto halved the deficit in its half of the frame.
Damon's first homer of the season, a leadoff blast to right in the third inning restored the Red Sox's two-run lead.
Boston starter John Burkett created his own problems in the fourth, allowing Toronto to knot the contest. Burkett walked Eric Hinske on five pitches and Orlando Hudson on four. Boston shortstop Garciaparra booted a double play grounder, allowing Hinske to score. Ken Huckaby tied it with a grounder to third.
The Red Sox forged ahead with a run in the sixth on another RBI single by Nixon, but Shea Hillenbrand was thrown out at the plate trying to advance on a ball that rolled away from Huckaby behind the plate.
The Blue Jays tied it again in the bottom of the sixth when Hudson singled with two outs and scored on Chris Woodward's long double.
After Timlin escaped a jam in the seventh, Politte got the first two batters in the eighth. Hillenbrand launched a long double to the wall in right field and Nixon lined a 3-2 pitch just over the wall in right for a 6-4 lead.
"I got two quick outs and had Nixon 0-2, and he took me to 3-2 and I made one mistake," Politte said. "He's a good hitter and that's what good hitters are going to do to a mistake."
Damon's homer in the ninth off Trever Miller gave Boston an 8-4 cushion and capped his fifth career multi-homer game.
Shannon Stewart opened the bottom of the ninth with a single and Frank Catalanotto had a base hit. A groundout plated Stewart and Carlos Delgado got the Blue Jays within 8-7 with his fourth homer.
But Timlin retired Greg Myers on a groundout and Hinske on a flyout.
