All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Brewers, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
HEADLINES
Bullpen can't do job: The game was tied in the seventh inning when Ryan Brasier replaced Brayan Bello. With his first pitch, Bello allowed a run-scoring single to Christian Yelich to give the Brewers a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Brasier has struggled all season long with inherited runners -- he's now allowed nine of 16 to come around to score -- and it didn't help that he didn't locate the fastball to Yelich where he wanted. Brasier then fanned the next four hitters to keep it a one-run game, but in the ninth, the Brewers gave themselves some breathing room when they used a walk, a double, a sacrifice fly, an intentional walk and another single -- all off Hirokazu Sawamura -- to tack on two big insurance runs.
Bello has his best outing yet: Rookie Brayan Bello didn't start as scheduled, with the Sox opting to have Austin Davis serve as the opener. But once Bello came into the game, with one out in the third, he showed why he's widely regarded as perhaps the best starting pitching prospect to come out of the Red Sox' system in some time. He gave the Sox 4.1 innings, allowing four hits while striking out four. Bello's fastball hit 97-98 mph, and his stuff was good enough to play in the zone, as he recorded a total of seven swings and misses. "The stuff was really good,'' said Alex Cora. "To come in in a game like that, against a good lineup, a lineup that usually doesn't swing a lot and he got a lot of swings and a lot of weak contact. He was more under control today. That was fun to see.''
Offensive letdown: For the second straight night, the Red Sox mustered exactly one hit through the first five innings. Then, they started to create opportunities for themselves over the final four innings, but could only manage one run. In the seventh, they had first and second with one out, but Jackie Bradley Jr. fanned and Yolmer Sanchez lined out softly to short. IT was more of the same in the eighth, with first-and-second and one out again, only to have Xander Bogaerts (strikeout) and J.D. Martinez (fielder's choice) fail to deliver. The Sox were 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded a total of eight baserunners.
TURNING POINT
There were two, and they were nearly identical. In the seventh, with two on and one out, Bradley was up 3-and-1 in the count against reliever Brad Boxberger and ended up striking out. An inning later, a similar situation took place for Xander Bogaerts. Like Bradley, he too was ahead 3-and-1 in the count facing set-up man Devin Williams and like Bradley, he, too, fanned.
TWO UP
Alex Verdugo: Responding again to being installed higher in the order, Verdugo had two hits, including a two-double off The Wall to score the only Red Sox run of the night.
Austin Davis: Filling the role of opener for the night, Davis faced eight batters and retired seven of them -- four by strikeout. The only hit against him was an infield single to short.
TWO DOWN
Jackie Bradley Jr.: Facing his former team, Bradley had a brutal night at the plate, going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
J.D. Martinez: With some scouts on hand to watch as the deadline draws closer, Martinez did nothing to enhance his value with another hitless night at the plate (0-for-4), dropping him to 0-for-14 since returning to the lineup earlier this week.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"We put up good at-bats and we had runners out there (in the late innings), but we haven't done a good job with men in scoring position for like a month and a half.'' Alex Cora.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* The Red Sox dropped to 8-20 in their last 28 games.
* For the fifth time in the last seven games, Alex Verdugo had multiple hits.
* Austin Davis tied a career high in strikeouts with four.
* Franchy Cordero has reached base in eight of his last 18 plate appearances.
* The Sox dropped to 5-6 in interleague play this season.
UP NEXT
In the middle game of the series between the teams, it will be RHP Nick Pivetta (8-7, 4.35) vs. LHP Eric Lauer (6-3, 3.84) at 4:10 p.m.