Alfredo Aceves

TORONTO – Alfredo Aceves walked into the visitors clubhouse at Rogers Centre Monday, put down his guitar case, and went to the manager’s office.

There he presented Bobby Valentine with a note, with just one word on it.

“Trust.”

Coming off two appearances in which didn’t record a single out, the Red Sox’ closer wanted to make sure Valentine didn’t shy away from him when the next opportunity arose. That wasn’t a problem.

Aceves came on to pitch a flawless ninth inning in closing out the Red Sox’ 4-2 win over the Blue Jays, getting two ground outs sandwiched around a strikeout.

“I just say, ‘Trust!’ We’re going to still trust,” Aceves said. “The last three games against Detroit everything was negative. … But we stick together and one of the things is trust. Whatever you do, just trust.

“I need to keep that in mind that I need to trust my stuff, and every single one of us it’s the same thing. For you, you have to trust. Try and stay positive.”

Following Scott Atchison’s three-inning, scoreless relief appearance – and the Sox’ ninth-inning comeback in which they scored three runs – there was, in Valentine’s mind, no other option that to go back to Aceves.

“He came in, he threw pretty much the same pitches. They were all quality,” the manager said. “Up in the zone, away in the zone. His breaking ball was really good. His fastball was crisp. Before the game, he wrote me a little note and talked about trust. I told him I trusted him. He knew he was going to have the ball.”