BOSTON - Mark Buehrle got his major league-leading eighth win with a big boost from Toronto's powerful lineup.

Neither was surprising.

"Look what he's done all year," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said after a 7-2 win over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday. "Who's pitched better in baseball?"

Buehrle (8-1) has eight wins through May for the first time since 2002 and an ERA of 2.16. He gave up two runs in the first two innings, but by then Toronto had seven, starting with homers on consecutive pitches by Melky Cabrera and Jose Bautista in the first inning.

That gave the Blue Jays a major league-high 67 homers and gave Buehrle a big cushion.

The 15-year veteran lefty blanked the Red Sox for his final five innings and allowed seven hits and no walks while striking out five in seven innings.

Dustin McGowan pitched two shutout innings as the Blue Jays took a half-game lead over the New York Yankees in the AL East.

"It's nice, obviously" to lead the majors in wins, "but I've always said you can go out your next eight starts and (stink) and be under .500," Buehrle said. "I try to throw it out the window and get ready for my next start."

Toronto improved to 8-2 in its past 10 games, while Boston lost its seventh straight. The Red Sox went 0-6 on their homestand, the first time since June 1994, when they also lost six in a row at Fenway Park, that they were winless on a homestand of at least six games.

"We're in a stretch of games here where we're giving up too many runs early and we're scuffling to score runs," Boston manager John Farrell said. "That's a dangerous combination."

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Slip, sliding away