20-19 heading to Kansas City!
A series victory? Who could have thought? Brayan Bello had a weird day. To quote our fearless leader Dan in the Slack channels, “Bellos been great at getting out of trouble so far. Just needs to stop the getting in trouble thing”. He only went 4.2 frames and walked himself into a lot of jams, five free bases given up alongside four hits. Somehow he worked out of every single one of them, even with the bases loaded. If he can just get batters out in the first place, he’s in a place to come around.
Thankfully he had a little run support from the start and the bats supported a really strong bullpen the rest of the way. Liam Hendriks went multiple innings for the first time since May 25th, 2022 and closed this game out strong.
Also the defense is turning back around too, the Red Sox have turned 34 double plays this season now, tied four 4th in all of Major League Baseball. This team has a foothold to climb out of a .500 hole. Is this their plateau or can they elevate themselves with the momentum of this win?
Three Studs
Rafael Devers (2-for-3, 2 RBI, 1 HR, 1 BB)
What a great day at the plate for Raffy. An RBI single and a solo oppo-taco is a great way to keep things up. The OPS is climbing to .834, I like to see that out of your slugger. How about a stolen base, too?
Ceddanne Rafaela (2-for-2, 1 run scored, 1 BB)
A lead-off double in the fifth inning showcased something we haven’t seen a ton of this season from Rafaela: hard contact. He’s supposedly made an adjustment to his swing and it looks to be working so far.
The Whole Bullpen (Slaten, Whitlock, Hendriks – 4.1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K combined)
0.66 ERA in three games against the Rangers. Let’s hope this continues because they stepped up tremendously this week.
Three Duds
Alex Bregman (0-for-4, 1 K)
Kristian Campbell (0-for-4, 1 K)
Abraham Toro (0-for-4, 1 K)
Yes, all three of these guys had the same line on the box score today. For Breggy and KC, it’s just an off day. For Toro…to be determined. Are there any other choices at first base?
Play of the Game
Raffy’s homer to the Monster seats was great, but gimme this incredible catch from Ceddanne in the triangle. That’s a tough one not just to make the catch, but not hurt yourself.