All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Rays, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
Bello shaky: Turns out, this wasn't the kind of debut of which dreams are made. Brayan Bello, making his first major league start, got nicked for a run in the first inning and gave up three more in the third before being pulled after four innings of work. At times, Bello flashed quality stuff, touching 96 mph with his fastball, but had difficulty commanding his changeup and seemed strangely averse to throwing his slider. Both Alex Cora and Bello denied that the rookie felt overwhelmed by the circumstances, but at times, his rhythm was thrown off by Rays hitters stepping out of the box and he appeared a little amped up in spots. As much as anything, Bello said he discovered the obvious: that hitters at the big league level are a lot better than they are at Triple A, where mistakes can be tolerated. Here? Not so much.
Offense still sputtering: Since last Friday, the start of their series at Wrigley Field, the Red Sox have not scored more than four runs in any one of their games. It's not a surprise that they're 2-3 in the five games since then. On Tuesday night, Cora said the team had not done well with situational hitting -- and specifically, plating baserunners from third with less than two out. But really, the problem is larger than that. The Sox didn't manage a run Wednesday night until the eighth inning, when things were already decided. They collected just six hits, and on the occasions when they did have a legitimate scoring chance, failed to cash in, finishing the game 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
Sale tunes up in Worcester: While Bello was getting his first taste of the big leagues, Chris Sale was experiencing what might be his final outing in the minors. Pitching for Worcester, Sale pitched 3.2 innings and allowed three hits while allowing a run with five walks and five strikeouts in 72 pitches, 42 of them strikes. The pitching line, of course, suggests that Sale was far from sharp, and he acknowledged as much, but noted that it was a flaw in his delivery that he feels he can easily fix. As to when he might be rejoining the Sox' rotation, Sale sounded eager to take the next step. "I'm very ready,'' he told reporters. "I know today was a little bit of a hiccup, but it's nothing that can't be ironed out.''
TURNING POINT
In the third inning, Bello retired two of the first three hitters. But after that, the bottom dropped out -- he allowed the next four hitters to reach, with three of the Rays mashing doubles before he finally got out of the inning by retiring Francisco Mejia on a flyout to center field. Had Bello gotten the third out before the deluge, it would have been interesting to see how he competed over the next few innings. Instead, he had fallen behind 4-0 and his night would be over after the following inniing.
ONE UP
Austin Davis: There wasn't much of a positive nature for the Red Sox, but Davis, pitching for the second time in the series, was sharp in a 1-2-3 seventh inning, striking out two.
THREE DOWN
Alex Verdugo: Verdugo carried a 14-game hitting streak into the game, tying a career high, but you wouldn't have known by the quality of his at-bats, as he went 0-for-4.
Xander Bogaerts: When Bogaerts homered for the first time in 25 games Tuesday, it seemed to be an indication that he was ready to bust out of a long slump. But Wednesday, he was 0-for-4 with a strikeout and two routine groundouts.
Hirokazu Sawamura: Sawamura has been an effective bullpen piece in a mop-up role when the Sox are down, but Wednesday, he suddenly and dramatically lost the plate after retiring the first two hitters, issuing four walks in the span of five at-bats to result in two runs.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"Overall, happy that's he here. You can see it. The stuff, obviously, he needs to keep getting better, working on a few things. But like I said yesterday, either seven innings and no runs, or three innings seven runs, we still love the kid and we know what it means to this organization.'' Alex Cora on Bello.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* The Red Sox fell to 0-8 in series against AL East teams. They've also lost three straight series overall after going 11-1-2 in their previous 14.
* Trevor Story has at least one extra-base hit in each of his last three games.
* Franchy Cordero has reached base in 10 straight games.
* Christian Vazquez has thrown out three of the last four baserunners attempting to steal on him.
* Jake Diekman has been unscored upon in 10 of his last 11 outings.
UP NEXT
The Yankees come to town for the first time this season. In the first of four, it will be RHP Josh WInckowski (3-2, 3.12) vs. RHP Gerrit Cole (7-2, 2.99) at 7:10 p.m.