TORONTO — The move made a lot of sense. It just didn’t work.

With pinch-hitter J.D. Drew on first base, courtesy of a leadoff walk in the eighth and the Sox down, 2-1, the count went to 3 and 2 on Julio Lugo.

Manager Terry Francona had confidence that Lugo would make contact, so he sent Drew on Casey Janssen’s full-count pitch to the Sox’ shortstop. Lugo made solid contact. Unfortunately for him, Lugo sizzled a liner to third that Jason Smith was able to reach up and grab.

By then, Drew was approaching second base. After securing the ball, Smith lofted a throw to first base for the rally-killing double play. Coco Crisp kept the inning alive with a single, but, with Crisp taking off on an 0-and-1 pitch to David Ortiz, the Jays’ new closer, Jason Frasor (subbing for disabled B.J. Ryan), retired the Boston slugger on a one-hopper to the mound.

The Sox went peacefully in the ninth, falling, 2-1.

Power display

It’s easy to see why the Red Sox were intrigued enough with Wily Mo Pena’s power potential to deal away right-hander Bronson Arroyo in a questionable trade with Cincinnati last spring. You can’t teach a guy to hit with the power Pena displays — when he hits the ball.

As anyone who follows baseball knows, Pena is a soft touch when it comes to offspeed breaking balls thrown by right-handed pitchers. The ball moves away from him and Pena has trouble laying off the pitch, generally wildly and unsuccessfully chasing it.

But against left-handed pitchers, Pena has fewer holes in his offensive game. Last night, Pena fell behind left-hander Gustavo Chacin at 1-and-2 in the second inning. Chacin tried to make him chase back-to-back down-and-in sliders, but the pitches were in the dirt.

So Chacin had to come in with a fastball on 3-and-2. Pena knew it was coming. And the location was to any hitter’s liking — down the middle, belt high.

Pena absolutely launched it high and deep to center. Center fielder Vernon Wells took two steps back and stopped, staring up at its flight, the ball finally crash-landing on the top panels of the restaurant, well above the 400-foot marker.

The homer, Pena’s first hit of the year, was further proof that when Pena hits a ball squarely, it goes a long way.

Could have been had

It was not an easy play. And it was ruled a base hit. But Lyle Overbay’s scalded one-hopper skidded past Lugo at shortstop on the glove side, deflecting off the leather as he went down to smother it in the fourth inning. Had Lugo fielded it cleanly, it would have been an inning-ending double play because Toronto had runners at first and second and one out. Lugo, though, couldn’t handle it. The ball bounced off his glove and into left-center for an RBI single, tying the game at 1-1.

The inning kept unraveling for Daisuke Matsuzaka, who was having command issues in the inning. He threw an extra 22 pitches and by the time the final out was recorded, the Jays were on top, 2-1.

A second chance

Toronto second baseman Aaron Hill tried to track down a high foul ball down the right-field line hit by Jason Varitek with runners at first and second and one out in the second. As he neared the ball, he went into a feet-first slide. That protected Hill’s body on the unforgiving turf, but it didn’t give him the opportunity for any arm extension to be able to catch the ball, which fell a foot or so in front of him.

So Varitek stayed alive. And Hill, who hadn’t been able to make the difficult catch of the foul popup, did the Jays one better. He fielded Varitek’s shattered-bat bouncer in the baseline, tagged out Mike Lowell and threw to first for an inning-ending double play.

Shifty maneuver

The shift cost David Ortiz a hit in the sixth inning. He also cost himself a hit on the same play.

Ortiz bashed a hot shot wide of first, a ball that for most hitters rolls through the hole on the right side and into right field. But the Jays stationed Hill on the turf in shallow right, swung around in the hole.

Hill fielded the ball and threw to Overbay, who was hustling to get back to the bag after trying to make the play on the grounder to his right. Ortiz, seeing Hill grab the ball, let up a bit as he neared first base, figuring he was out. The throw, though, was wide to the infield side, pulling Overbay off the bag.

But when Ortiz, seeing that, tried to speed up, he was too late. Overbay caught the ball and was able to get back and tag out Ortiz.

A second look

You want the guys at the top of the order to see a lot of pitches so the guys behind them can see what the pitcher has. In his first at-bat, Crisp, batting second, saw a fastball, a changeup and a curveball from Chacin.

The trouble was that he took the fastball for a strike, fouled off the changeup and swung and missed a curveball in the dirt for a three-pitch strikeout.

Crisp, though, extracted a measure of revenge in the third, turning on a fastball and pulling a double to left field.

skrasner@projo.com