All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Twins, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
HEADLINES
Bello runs out of gas: For four innings, rookie Brayan Bello was impressive, continually pitching out of jams. He stranded one baserunner in the second and two more in the third. In the fourth, the Twins loaded the bases with no outs against him, but Bello dug in and after allowing a run on a sacrifice fly, wiggled out of further trouble with a flyout and groundout. But, apparently, that 29-pitch inning took a lot of Bello because when he returned for the fifth, he threw seven straight balls and issued walks to the first two hitters he faced, leading to his removal. Bello continues to show impressive stuff and his fourth-inning escape was impressive. But he also has to start figuring out how to regularly get through the fifth inning and into the sixth, and he's struggled to do that.
Offense fails to take advantage: It's been an epidemic of late for the Sox. It happened over the homestand -- especially in the Toronto series -- and it happened again Monday night in the road trip opener. The Sox had runners at first and third and one out in the third and couldn't score. An inning later, it was more of the same. After scoring one run, the Sox were in position to do more, with runners at second and third and one out. But again, they had some poor situational hitting and couldn't move the baserunners, much less score them. Finally, in the fifth, they had runners at the corners with two out and couldn't buy the big hit necessary. For the game, the Sox were just 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position, stranding nine.
Kelly makes his debut: Reliever Zack Kelly, who was added to the 40-man roster earlier in the day and promoted from Worcester after the Sox designated two veteran relievers (Austin Davis, Hirokazu Sawamura) the day before. The Sox wasted no time getting Kelly into a game, calling on him for the sixth inning. With the Sox trailing 4-2, Kelly, 27, kept the score right there. He fanned each of the first two hitters he faced, and after allowing a line single to center by Luis Arraez, batterymate Reese McGuire helped him out by throwing out Arraez attempting to steal for the third out. For someone who has bounced around a few organizations and had to wait a long while for his opportunity, Kelly made his debut an unqualified success. Good for him.
TURNING POINT
In the third inning, the Red Sox had a 1-0 lead and were poised for a big inning. Alex Verdugo was on third and Xander Bogaerts on first with one out when Rafael Devers hit a ball to shallow right field. Verdugo was slow to react as the ball was hit in the air, and even though Minnesota right fielder Max Kepler made a sprawling catch of the sinking liner, Verdugo didn't get back to the third base bag to tag up until Kepler made the catch. At that point, it was too late to tag, and the Sox wasted a chance to score another run, That fundamental error loomed even larger when J.D. Martinez struck out, stranding both runners. If the Sox had grabbed a 2-0 lead, it might have changed how things unfolded. Instead, they were limited to a solo run.
TWO UP
Trevor Story: Story's second game back from the IL was a strong one as he had three hits - all singles -- along with a run scored and a stolen base.
Tommy Pham: Pham delivered two hits in his first two plate appearances from the top of the lineup and scored a run.
TWO DOWN
Rafael Devers: In addition to going 0-for-4 and stranding four runners along the way, Devers also lost track of the number of outs in the third inning and trotted off the field rather than completing a double play.
Rob Refsnyder: Refsnyder came off the bench to pinch-hit for Franchy Cordero in the fifth and fanned, stranding runners at the corners. His next at-bat -- striking out with a runner in scoring position in the eighth -- wasn't any more productive.
QUOTE OF NOTE:
"It's been happening too much....It has happened a lot. From my end, I take it personally. It's a reflection of who we are. At one point, we've got to make it right. As the manager, I take a lot of pride in this and we're not doing a good job.'' Alex Cora on the growing number of mental mistakes and lapses being made by the Red Sox.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* For the second straight game, Red Sox hitters drew just one walk.
* J.D. Martinez saw his eight-game hitting streak come to end.
* The Sox fell to 15-13 against teams from the American League Central.
* Rafael Devers saw his hitless streak grow to 0-for-15.
UP NEXT
In the middle game of the series Tuesday night, the Red Sox will send RHP Kutter Crawford (3-5, 5.30) out to face RHP Chris Archer (2-7, 4.34) at 7:40 p.m.