BOSTON — It’s looking like Brayan Bello is on the verge of enjoying a long and successful MLB career, and the way he’s pitched against the New York Yankees so far, that’s bad news for the folks in the Bronx.
For the second straight weekend on Sunday Night Baseball, the 24-year-old shut down the Yankees to lead the Red Sox to a huge series win. Bello once again threw seven innings, this time allowing just one run while striking out eight in Boston’s 4-1 win.
The Red Sox also won the first game of Sunday’s day-night doubleheader 6-2, and by sweeping the Yankees the club also moved to within 2.5 games of the final American League Wild Card spot.
Bello got off to a rocky start in the first, walking leadoff hitter Jake Bauers before allowing a double to Gleyber Torres and an RBI groundout to Anthony Rizzo, but from that point he settled down.
Though the Yankees had a number of chances as the game went on, Bello never allowed the big hit, and New York wound up finishing 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position while he was on the mound.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox offense kept its recent resurgence going and gave Bello the support he needed.
Kiké Hernández tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the second with an RBI double, and the Red Sox wound up taking the lead in the fourth after Yankees catcher Kyle Higashioka was called for catcher’s interference with the bases loaded, allowing Alex Verdugo to score from third.
The Red Sox couldn’t get any more runs across in that frame, but in the fifth they loaded the bases again and this time Triston Casas came through with a two-run ground rule double past Pesky’s Pole.
Bello, Josh Winckowski and Kenley Jansen took care of business from there, with Jansen locking down his 15th save of the season with scoreless ninth to close out the sweep.
With the win Bello improves to 4-4 and his ERA on the season is down to 3.49 through 11 starts. He also now boasts a 1.44 ERA over 25 innings through his first four starts against the Yankees.
Red Sox take Game 1, 6-2
With Bello needed to pitch the nightcap, the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader wound up being a cobbled-together bullpen game, and at first, not a promising one. Kaleb Ort opened the show by giving up a ground-rule double by the Pesky Pole to leadoff man Jake Bauers, followed by a two-run home run to Gleyber Torres.
Though Ort settled down and didn’t allow another hit or run in his 2 1/3 innings, the immediate deficit appeared to be an irrecoverable blow for more than half the game. The Red Sox entered the day 13-29 when their opponents score first, and had no answer to Clark Schmidt.
Just as he’d done the previous Sunday, the Yankees starter held the home team down early, albeit with a little help from his opponents; any time Schmidt gave an inch, the Red Sox quickly erased it. Back-to-back two-out singles by Rafael Devers and Adam Duvall in the first inning amounted to nothing when Masataka Yoshida lined out, and the performance essentially repeated in the third, when Yoshida flew out to leave Alex Verdugo (double) and Devers (walk) hanging. By the end of that frame, they’d already left five men on base.
Finally, in the bottom of the fifth, Schmidt found out what many a Yankee pitcher learned before him: Boston bats don’t stay quiet for long.
Justin Turner, who’d hit a classic Yankee Stadium homer against Schmidt the week before, got to him again. After Verdugo drew a one-out walk, Turner doubled, setting the stage for Devers. The slugging third baseman fouled a pitch off himself, then got a run across the plate by grounding out. Duvall followed with a game-tying RBI single, his first run batted in since coming off the injured list.
But when the Red Sox took the lead in the bottom of the sixth, it wasn’t because they’d finally figured out Schmidt. Instead, they walloped Michael King.
King began the inning with two fast outs, then allowed four consecutive hits and three RBI. He issued a walk before getting out of the frame.
Yoshida was the only Boston hitter who didn’t come to bat in the sixth, but he made up for lost time by leading off the seventh with a triple and scoring on a balk.
Neither team would score again, and the Red Sox won 6-2.
For Duvall, who missed exactly two months with a wrist fracture, getting back in the swing of things was about more than his individual performance.
“Being on the (injured list) was tough,” he confessed. “Being able to be out there, grinding with the guys, just winning ballgames, it’s fun.”
“I feel like I’m starting to kind of get a rhythm, in the flow of the game a little bit more,” the veteran outfielder said. “I pride myself on driving in runs so when I step in the box, that’s what I want to be able to do. In order to do that, you gotta be able to put the barrel to the ball. So being able to do that today was was a step in the right direction
While it’s encouraging to see the offense reawaken, the pitching staff’s contributions cannot be overlooked; they held down the fort long enough for the Red Sox to mount a comeback and never let up.
After Ort gave up that first-inning home run, the Yankees didn’t collect another hit until the top of the sixth. Rookie Chris Murphy, Nick Pivetta, and Chris Martin combined for 6 2/3 scoreless innings, holding the Yankees to two hits and not issuing a walk for the remainder of the game.
While Murphy has been developing in the minors as a starting pitcher, the Red Sox are only planning on using him for relief appearances for now. The shorter appearances enables him to turn up the heat, but even he confessed to being pleasantly surprised by his Sunday velocity.
“I don’t need to go six innings, so going as hard as I can being on full-go from pitch one,” he explained. “I looked up at the scoreboard after my first two-thirds and I did not expect to see something that hard.”
His performance also garnered high praise from his manager.
“Murph’ has been really good in that role… He has a cutter, he has a slider, he has a curveball. He’s been under control here,” Alex Cora lauded. “We need him to throw strikes and so far, so good.”
Cora also complimented Pivetta, whom the Red Sox moved to the bullpen following a stretch of rough starts at the beginning of the season.
“Obviously, he was dominant tonight,” his manager said of Pivetta’s three no-hit innings. “This is a different pitcher as a reliever than as a starter. His stuff is better … there’s a little bit more conviction, better tempo, a few-things mechanic-wise.”
It’s been a while since the Red Sox looked like they were firing on all cylinders, but Duvall thinks they’re just getting started.
“I still believe that our best baseball is ahead.”
