Blue Jays starter Roy Halladay and catcher Sal Fasano had no answers during the Red Sox’ six-run third inning last night.

AP / NATHAN DENETTE NATHAN DENETTE

TORONTO — The trip began with one shutout with a foundation of seven scoreless innings from Tim Wakefield and ended with another, with Wakefield again blanking the opponent for the first seven frames, the perfect bookend.

In between, it was more of the same: opportunistic, two-out hitting and stellar starting pitching, a potent if not unbeatable combination.

The Red Sox could hardly have asked for more.

“Were just playing good baseball right now,” said Mike Lowell after the Red Sox had clobbered the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-0, last night and recorded a series sweep of the free-falling Jays, who lost their ninth in a row.

For these three games, anyway, the Jays were no match for the Sox. Boston romped to a 27-5 cumulative edge in the series and pushed Toronto 10 ½ games back.

In improving to 14-6 on the road, the Red Sox have opened up a seven-game advantage over second-place New York. Better still, the Sox head home for their second-longest homestand of the season, starting tonight against Baltimore.

“This trip,” said Wakefield, 4-3, “has been a big asset. Now, were coming home with a little momentum, knowing how well we’ve played at Fenway Park.

“We’ve been pretty much a .500 team on the road the last couple of years,” said manager Terry Francona, “so for us to be playing this well (away from home), we’ve done a good job. The focus has been real good.”

For the six-game trip, Boston’s starters were 5-1 with a 1.55 ERA. In every one of the games, the starting pitcher lasted a minimum of six innings; four times, the starter went seven innings. The only loss was a 2-1 defeat to Johan Santana and the Minnesota Twins, which featured terrific pitching from No. 5 starter Julian Tavarez.

“(Starting pitching) sets the tone,” said Francona. “It gives you a chance to win every night and it takes the heat off the bullpen, so nobody gets overused.”

Overused? Francona sometimes had a tough time trying to keep his relievers sharp. Wakefield threw just 93 pitches in his seven innings last night, but Francona felt compelled to get some work for Hideki Okajima (eighth inning) and J.C. Romero (ninth).

Wakefield may trail Josh Beckett for the staff lead in wins, but he now sports the lowest ERA (1.79) in the American League, a tenth of a run better than Oakland’s Danny Haren. His start is good enough to invite comparisons to his memorable 1995 season, when, en route to a 14-1 start in his first 17 starts as a member of the Sox, Wakefield was 4-1 with a 1.72 ERA over his first seven starts.

“So far, so good,” said Wakefield of his season. “But you’re only as good as your next start.

Not even the presence of Toronto ace Roy Halladay could deter the Sox’ bats last night. After scratching out a run in the first off Halladay, they cracked the game wide open in the third by batting around and scoring six runs, three coming on Mike Lowell’s homer du jour off Toronto.

The Sox added one more in the fourth before Halladay was finished after five.

“He’s a guy who doesn’t make a lot of mistakes,” said Lowell. “But he left some balls up in the zone and we took advantage.”

Halladay didn’t help himself in the first when, after a one-out double by Kevin Youkilis, he fired an errant pickoff attempt into center field. David Ortiz then scored Youkilis with a groundout to the right side.

There was no need for small ball in the third. After Doug Mirabelli grounded out, seven of the next eight Boston hitters connected for hits, culminating in Lowell’s three-run homer, his fifth in seven games against the Blue Jays this season.

All six of the runs in the third came after two were out.

“We’ve faced (Halladay) so many times,” said Francona, “that it’s nice to finally have some success against him. We found some holes and got the best of him. It’s nice to come away with a win anytime he pitches.

That gave Wakefield plenty of breathing room, and he took full advantage, facing the minimum number of hitters after the first inning and retiring 16 in succession before Vernon Wells touched him for a leadoff single in the seventh.

smcadam@projo.com