Bello, Sox Drop Rangers (9/3/22)

Don't look now but the Boston Red Sox have won four games in a row including three straight against the Texas Rangers. Brayan Bello (1-4, 5.91 ERA) was the hero in this one, pitching six shutout innings to earn his first major league win. Offensively Rafael Devers drove in two big runs with Trevor Story driving in another. Garrett "The Lock" Whitlock got tagged for 3 runs to make the game a save situation and Matt Barnes loaded the bases in the ninth inning. John Schreiber was able to slam the door to give the Sox a 5-3 victory at Fenway Park.

                                                         Roman Reigns approves of the win

Bello got the ball in the top of the first inning and Marcus Semien struck out swinging to start. Corey Seager flied out to center and Nathaniel Lowe grounded out to short to end the inning. Dennis Santana got the ball in the bottom of the first inning and the Sox wasted no time tagging him. Tommy Pham drew a walk but Alex Verdugo struck out swinging. Xander Bogaerts forced Pham at second but Rafael Devers pounded a double to center to score Xander. JD Martinez grounded out to second to end the inning with the Sox ahead 1-0.

                                                           Devers strikes first

Adolis Garcia flied out to right to start the top of the second before Mark Mathias grounded out to short. Kole Calhoun and Ezequiel Duran stroked back to back base hits but Meibrys Viloria grounded back to the mound to end the inning. Trevor Story struck out swinging to start the bottom of the second before Christian Arroyo lined out to second. Reese McGuire drew a walk and stole second base, but Kike Hernandez struck out swinging to end the inning.

Bubba Thompson got a base hit to center to start the top of the third but Semien forced him at second. Seager flied out to to center and Lowe forced Semien at second to end the inning. Taylor Hearn took over for Santana to pitch the bottom of the third and Pham grounded out to first to start. Verdugo took strike three but Bogaerts smacked a double to center. Devers struck out swinging to end the inning.

Garcia lined out to right to start the top of the fourth but Mathias walked. Calhoun struck out swinging and Duran took strike three to end the inning. Martinez doubled to left to start the bottom of the fourth before moving to third on the Story grounder to short. Arroyo and McGuire both struck out swinging to end the inning.

Viloria grounded out to second to start the top of the fifth before Thompson struck out swinging. Semien flied out to center to end the inning. The Sox teed off on new pitcher Brock Burke in the bottom of the fifth. Hernandez walked but Pham struck out swinging. Verdugo walked and both men moved over on a balk. Bogaerts hit a grounder to short and Seager threw home to nail Hernandez....under the glove of Viloria to allow Kike to score on the error. Devers beat out a double play ball to score Verdugo and Martinez took strike three to end the inning with the Sox up 3-0.

                                                     Devers drives in another run

Bello returned for one final inning in the top of the sixth and Seager grounded out to first to start. Lowe took strike three and Garcia lined out to third to end the inning. Bello had tossed 6 shutout innings allowing 3 hits and a walk while striking out 5 batters.

                                                       Good work Bello

Kohei Arihara came in to pitch the bottom of the sixth and Story doubled to center to start. Arroyo dropped down a bunt to move Story to third but McGuire struck out swinging. Hernandez walked but Pham forced him at second to end the inning.

Garrett "The Lock" Whitlock came in to pitch the top of the seventh and Mathias flied out to right to start. Calhoun struck out swinging but Duran singled to right. Viloria struck out swinging to end the inning. The Sox iced the game in the bottom of the seventh as Verdugo grounded out to second to start. Bogaerts and Devers stroked back to back base hits to right but an error by Garcia moved the runners over. Martinez hit a double play ball to third....but Duran booted it for an error that scored Bogaerts. Story ripped a double to right to score Devers but Arroyo lined out to right. McGuire grounded out to first to end the inning with the Sox up 5-0.

                                                         Story drives in a run

Suddenly the Rangers rallied in the top of the eighth as Thompson singled to left to start. Semien hit a home run all the way back to Texas to cut the lead. Seager flied out to right but Lowe hit a home run all the way into Bombay, India to inch the Rangers closer. Garcia flied out to right and Mathias took strike three to end the inning with the Rangers down 5-3.

                                                              Lowe jacks one

Brett Martin came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth and Hernandez grounded out to third to start. Pham lined out to right and Verdugo struck out swinging to end the inning.

Matt Barnes came in to close out the top of the ninth and Calhoun got a base hit to center to start. Leody Taveras pinch ran for Calhoun and Duran forced him at second. Jonah Heim pinch hit for Viloria and got a base hit to right. Thompson beat out a roller to third and suddenly the bases were loaded with one out. John Schreiber was called in to put the fire out and Semien struck out swinging. Seager grounded out to short to end the game. The Sox had won it 5-3.

                                                              Sox win

Hero of The Night is Brayan Bello. He tossed 6 shutout innings allowing 3 hits and a walk while striking out 5 batters.

                                                          Bello's first Hero

The Good:

Xander Bogaerts was 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored.

Rafael Devers was 2 for 4 with 2 rbis and a run scored.

Trevor Story was 2 for 4 with an rbi.

Kike Hernandez walked twice in four plate appearances and scored a run.

John Schreiber got his sixth save by getting the final two outs of the ninth.

The Bad:

Christian Arroyo was 0 for 3 with a strikeout.

Garrett Whitlock allowed 3 runs in 2 innings.

The Ugly:

Tommy Pham was 0 for 4 with a strikeout but walked.

Alex Verdugo was 0 for 4 with a hat trick of 3 strikeouts but walked and scored a run.

JD Martinez was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout.

Reese McGuire was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts but walked.

Matt Barnes loaded the bases in the ninth inning but got the first out.

Final Thoughts:

The Sox have won four games in a row and they did it with timely offense. Getting Story and Hernandez back along with the trade for Pham has solidified the offense to at least keep the Sox in the game with their season teetering on the break. Which leads to the pitching. Bello pitched his best game of the season and as unfair as it seems, they're going to need him to get hot in September if they have any hope for October. Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Wacha and Brayan Bello might be able to get them to the dance if they can keep this win streak going. Hopefuly this will be the first of many wins for Bello in his career. The win improved the Sox to 66-68, 7.5 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the third wild card. The Sox look to make it five wins in a row and a series sweep tomorrow afternoon when Kutter Crawford takes on Dave Dunning of Texas. The game begins at 1:35 PM at Fenway Park.