Kevin Youkilis homered twice as the Red Sox' offense broke out of its recent funk.

AP photo / The Canadian Press, Darren Calabrese

TORONTO –– That offensive explosion the Sox have been waiting for finally appeared Sunday in Toronto. Kevin Youkilis hit two solo home runs, Jason Bay hit his 15th and Dustin Pedroia nudged a three-run home run off the foul pole. The Sox rode all that offense, and a nasty performance by Jon Lester, to a 8-2 win over the Blue Jays.

The win pulled the Red Sox a half-game behind the New York Yankees, and left the Blue Jays 1.5 games out.

Lester was able to avoid the big inning that has plagued him through so much of this season, and he sliced up Jays batters with his slider and fastball. Lester struck out 12, a career high and the most by a Red Sox pitcher this year. It’s the most by a Sox lefty, in fact, since Bruce Hurst struck out 14 in 1987. Lester left after six innings and 116 pitches, and earned his fourth win.

His last few starts have all felt good, he said, but the results haven’t always been there. This time, he was able to avoid that one game-changing mistake.

"I just try to keep the same focus I’ve been trying to do the last three starts. Just one pitch the last start cost me the game, so I feel like I’m going in the right direction," he said.

Lester incorporated his rarely used changeup to keep Blue Jays hitters off balance. It was devastatingly effective, more so because he had faced Toronto two weeks ago and barely used it at all.

"He used all his pitches, and there was power behind them," manager Terry Francona said.

Youkilis’ first home run came in the first inning, a solo shot off Toronto rookie Ricky Romero. Pedroia followed up in the fourth, with the game tied at 1-1 and David Ortiz and Jason Varitek on base –– his first home run since opening day. Ortiz had reached on a double off the center-field wall that nearly cleared for a home run.

Youkilis and Bay went back-to-back off reliever Brian Wolfe in the seventh inning to extend the lead. The clubhouse was cheery after the game, with players happy that the offense finally broke out after four straight games with no more than three runs scored.

"It was a nice way to end the series. We didn’t really swing the bats all that well, but I think we strung together a lot of extra-base hits today," Mike Lowell said.

Francona changed the lineup before the game in an effort to spark the offense, and to get players who draw more walks than Jacoby Ellsbury into the front of the order.

Pedroia led off, followed by J.D. Drew, with Ellsbury dropping to the eighth spot.

It clearly worked –– and with Ellsbury in a lower spot, it led to some small-ball success, as well. The Sox twice sacrifice bunted, and Ellsbury’s bunt was the team’s first sacrifice this season.

Boston was baseball’s last team to achieve a sacrifice bunt this year.

"That’s surprising when you told me that. I would have thought we would have had one by now," Ellsbury said, joking that they had to go over the signs again. "Yeah, we had to refresh," he said.

The Sox head to Detroit for the final leg of their three-city road trip, and they do it on a positive note. This win, coming after two straight losses, was an important one, Pedroia said.

"That was definitely good, get everyone’s confidence up heading into that day off," Pedroia said.

dbarbari@projo.com