All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Rays, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
HEADLINES
Bello shows some improvement, eventually: Brayan Bello's second career start looked like it was going to be worse than the first as he allowed five earned runs on five hits, four walks and a hit by pitch the first two innings alone. But for the next two innings, as Alex Cora kept running the rookie out there to save some of his bullpen, Bello settled down: no earned runs and two strikeouts. “Not too many swings and misses early on,” Cora told reporters. “but then he made adjustments and he got the swings and misses. ... “I think after the third inning, you could see it. We went with the fastball in other places, we used the fastball a little bit more. He gave us 12 outs, and at that point, we needed him to do that and he did. Obviously there’s a lot of learning and growing, and tonight was a great learning experience for him. We were very pleased with the last two innings, he gave us a chance to win.”
Red Sox come back ... again: It looked like the Red Sox were going to follow the script of the previous two nights as they spotted the opponent a handful of runs, and then started to chip away. The Red Sox trailed 5-1 before a warming J.D. Martinez drove in two with a double, Jarren Duran singled in Rob Refsnyder, and then Xander Bogaerts tied it at 5-5 with an RBI single in the fifth. Say this about the Sox of late: they do not care if they fall behind.
Then give it away: Jake Diekman has been outstanding this season, but his three batters in the sixth were rough — hit by pitch, line out, Yandy Diaz double, and then Caleb Ort came in to allow an RBI single to Harold Ramirez. Diekman suffered his first loss of the season (4-1) in one-third of an inning. “It sucks," he told reporters. "We had momentum all the way up to that point. To come in, hit a guy on the foot, give up a (hard) out and a seed double, yeah, it sucks.” After pitching a perfect seventh inning, Phillips Valdez was lit up for three unearned runs in the eighth on four singles and a sacrifice fly after Bobby Dalbec got things started with his fourth error of the season by dropping a routine fly ball, and Franchy Cordero misplayed (no error) a weak ground ball.
It also didn't help that the Sox, who scored nine-straight runs against the Yankees on Sunday night, didn't have a hit in the final four innings against Tampa.
"I like the effort, but we have to finish games and we didn’t finish today," Cora said.
Chris Sale to throw 85 pitches, and start vs. Yankees on Sunday as arms get healthy: Cora said Sale is slated to throw 85 pitches in his debut tonight, and then start the final game before the All-Star break at Yankee Stadium. “I believe we can be more aggressive now compared to last year,” Cora told reporters. “The fact we’re thinking about pitching him Sunday tells you a lot.” Nathan Eovaldi is expected to start Friday in New York, and Garrett Whitlock will join the bullpen the same night.
TURNING POINT
With the game tied and after Austin Davis through a one-hit fifth inning, Diekman hit Taylor Walls with the second pitch in the sixth. Leadoff batters for the Rays at that point: hit-by-pitch, walk, double, single, strikeout, hit-by-pitch. Hard to win games that way.
THREE UP
J.D. Martinez: He's finally warming up, and driving the ball. Over his last seven games, Martinez has five doubles.
Xander Bogaerts, Alex Verdugo: Combined to go 4 for 6 in the middle of the lineup with two RBI.
TWO DOWN
Trevor Story: He was completely robbed by a sensational Brett Phillips diving catch in the second inning and had a great barehanded double-play turn, but Story was still 0 for 4 with five runners left on base as his average dipped to .222.
Franchy Cordero: Continues to be an adventure in the field and he whiffed all four times at the plate.
QUOTE OF NOTE
“I think the key for those last two innings was we changed from the two-seamer to the four-seam fastball. That’s when everything changed.” — Bello through an interpreter via NESN.
NOTES
- Rafael Devers (back) is slated to start today but sit out Wednesday against Rays lefty ace Shane McClanahan.
- Kiké Hernández (right hip flexor) experienced a setback over the weekend and is visiting a doctor.
- Matt Barnes is scheduled to pitch today for the Florida Complex League Red Sox in Fort Myers.
UP NEXT
LHP Chris Sale makes his season debut against RHP Corey Kluber (4-5, 3.62) in the second game of the four-game set at 7:10 p.m.