TORONTO -- Making his first start in the Majors since late August and on a strict pitch count, Clayton Richard pitched well in his Toronto Blue Jays debut. The bullpen, however, wasn't able to keep the Boston Red Sox bats silent in a 8-2 loss.

The lefty, who was acquired by Toronto in an offseason trade with the Padres, pitched four innings while allowing just one run on two hits. He struck out two, walked two and hit one batter.

• Box score

Richard made the start after he was placed on the injured list before the season started with a stress reaction in his right knee, and he showed signs of rust. When throwing a fastball, Richard was able to place his pitches well. But, the 35-year-old struggled with his command on his off-speed pitches.

“Clearly, mechanically there were some issues. I didn’t command the ball as well as I would like to,” Richard said. “But to come away being in the ballgame after four innings is the end goal, and I was able to do that. So, I feel good about that part of it.”

The major blemish on Richard’s start came away from pitching the ball.

After Red Sox right fielder Eduardo Nunez led off with a single in the top of the third inning, Richard was issued a balk while squaring off against Jackie Bradley Jr. Nunez was able to score in the inning after consecutive ground outs to Bradley Jr. and Michael Chavis.

“I haven’t had a chance to watch it to see what happened,” Richard said of the balk. “But the previous time I had the ball, I picked over quick. I felt like I did the exact same thing on the following pitch.”

In the first inning, Richard committed a two-base throwing error while pitching to Xander Bogaerts. Mookie Betts went from first to third base, but Richard was able to get out of the frame unscathed.

He finished the game with 54 pitches, 32 for strikes.

“I really feel good about this game just because of that,” Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. “His four innings were good and he threw strikes. His ball had movement on it. So that’s a good sign for us. I’m really happy about his outing.”

After going through six different pitchers in Wednesday's 13-inning loss to the Red Sox, Toronto's bullpen was reasonably limited. Although Ryan Feierabend was expected to be the long pitcher in relief for Richard, Montoyo elected to put in reliever Sam Gaviglio to start the fifth inning.

“Feierabend was going to be the long guy early on if we were down,” Montoyo explained. “But we were still in the game so that’s why Sammy was the second guy out."

Gavigilio surrendered three consecutive hits to start the sixth inning, which allowed the Red Sox to score a pair of runs. Reliever Elvis Luciano surrendered an additional run to Boston in each of the seventh and eighth innings.

Feierabend came on in relief of Luciano after one out in the eighth inning and surrendered three runs, including a two-run homer to Steve Pearce.

“Our bullpen has done a good job, by the way,” Montoyo added. “Pitching that much.”

In addition to the lack of solid relief pitching, Toronto's offense was unable to pick up the slack. Batting an MLB-low .203 at home prior to Thursday’s game, Toronto managed just five hits. The team has lost eight of its last ten home games. Given the Red Sox were also limited in pitchers available due to the marathon game on Wednesday, the Blue Jays missed an opportunity to get back on track.

With Ryan Borucki (elbow), Dan Phelps (elbow), Matt Shoemaker (ACL, out for season) and Clay Buchholz (shoulder) all on the 60-day injured list, the Jays’ starting pitching rotation has been unlucky with the glut of injuries.

“That’s Major League baseball,” Richard said. “If you look around the league, that’s what happens to rotations this day and age in our game. It’s the teams that deal with it and have the depth that are going to handle the adversity that are able to succeed. “

Richard’s return is a welcome sight for the Jays, but the issues remain. Toronto fell to 10 games under .500 for the first time this season.

Smoak goes yard ... again

Justin Smoak hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. He has homered in back-to-back games.

Roster moves

During the game, the Blue Jays claimed left-handed pitcher Zac Rosscup from the Seattle Mariners. Toronto placed right-handed pitcher Jimmy Cordero for assignment to make room for Rosscup on the 40-man roster.