TORONTO - Daulton Varsho was just trying to make contact — "short and sweet to the ball" he later said — but he ended up having the biggest hit of the Toronto Blue Jays' season.

Varsho launched a grand slam in the sixth inning to lift the Blue Jays over the Boston Red Sox 6-1 on Thursday night as Toronto moved one step closer to winning the American League East title.

Although the New York Yankees also won Thursday, beating the Chicago White Sox 5-3 to stay tied with Toronto atop the division, the Blue Jays reduced their magic number to three.

Any combination of Toronto wins and New York losses that add up to three will give the Blue Jays the East title. Whichever team wins the division gets a bye to the AL Division Series and home-field advantage to boot.

"I think everybody wants to f

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