BOSTON — Where would the Red Sox be without Brayan Bello?
With the starting rotation decimated by injuries the 24-year-old righty has put the team on his back and given the Red Sox a chance to win every time he takes the mound. Wednesday was no exception as he delivered yet another gem to help Boston top the AL West-leading Texas Rangers, 4-2.
Though not as sharp as in some of his recent outings, Bello continued to show impressive poise as he worked his way out of a number of early jams unscathed. In the first inning he stranded a pair of runners after Texas got men on second and third with one out, and in the second he shook off a pair of should-have-been-errors that extended the inning and kept the Rangers off the board.
From there he retired eight straight Rangers batters into the sixth inning, and Texas’ only damage all day came on a two-run home run by Adolis Garcia, his 22nd of the season, in the top of the sixth. Bello ultimately went seven innings, allowing the two runs on eight hits with three strikeouts and no walks. It was Bello’s sixth straight quality start and his fifth straight pitching into the seventh inning.
Unlike in his last outing, when Bello carried a no-hitter into the seventh but took the loss after the Red Sox offense was shut out, two runs was good enough to get the job done this time. Boston led from wire to wire, taking a 2-0 lead in the first on a pair of RBI singles by Justin Turner and Adam Duvall, and Turner added a second RBI single in the fifth to make it 3-0.
After Garcia’s home run made it 3-2, Boston immediately responded after Christian Arroyo walked and came around to score on a David Hamilton liner that made it past the first baseman and was misplayed by Garcia in right. Bello then worked around a Robbie Grossman double to post a scoreless seventh, and Chris Martin and Kenley Jansen took care of business from there, with the newly minted four-time All-Star locking things down for his 18th save.
Boston (44-43) now has a chance to win the series on Thursday against a Texas club that currently owns the second best record in the American League (51-36). Kutter Crawford (3-4, 3.92 ERA) will take the mound against former Red Sox great Nathan Eovaldi (10-3, 2.64), who is enjoying one of the best seasons of his career and is among the favorites to start the All-Star Game for the American League. First pitch Thursday is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.
