All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' win over the Brewers, complete with BSJ insight and analysis:
HEADLINES
Sox explode in the eighth: The Red Sox sent a dozen men to the plate in the eighth inning. When that inning began, they were trailing by a run. By the time it finished, they were up by eight. The inning began with a game-tying homer from Justin Turner and was followed, a handful of pitches later, by a solo homer from Masataka Yoshida, giving them their first lead since the fifth inning. But the Sox were far from done. A two-run single from Connor Wong extended the lead further. A bases-loaded walk from Turner kept the line moving, and then Yoshida connected for his first major league grand slam, and the rout was on.
Bello still a work in progress: Brayan Bello had a somewhat rocky first inning (two walks, a wild pitch), improved in the next three innings (retiring 10 of 12 at one point), then struggled again in the fifth, his final inning of work. It was an improvement over his first outing, when he was knocked around for five runs on eight hits in just 2.2 innings, but it was far from solid. Still, if his "bad" starts are going to involve allowing three runs in almost five innings (4.2 innings, to be precise), the Red Sox can live with that. It's likely that Bello is still building back up after some forearm tenderness set him back some at the very beginning of spring training.
Defense shines: The left side of the Red Sox infield has been upgraded defensively. With Kiké Hernandez now playing more center field and second, Yu Chang has stabilized the shortstop position. Chang has made all the necessary plays, and also chipped in with some highly-type plays. Case in point: he went to his backhand to glove a hot smash off the bat of Christian Yelich in the third inning and has had himself perfectly positioned to make some other challenging plays. Meanwhile, at third, Rafael Devers quietly has shown significant improvement with the glove. Through the first 23 games, he's yet to commit an error and has been credited with saving three defensive runs already. His biggest defensive contribution Sunday came when he ranged far to his left to handle a hard-hit grounder from Victor Caratini, starting a huge 5-4-3 double play in the sixth inning.
TURNING POINT
Kaleb Ort's seventh inning was far from impressive. It included three walks and a wild pitch as the Brewers surged into the lead. But it could have been worse. The Brewers had one run in with runners at first and second and just one out. But Ort got Willy Adames to pop up, then, in perhaps the biggest at-bat of the afternoon, retired Sox-killer Rowdy Tellez on a harmless grounder to first. Given that Tellez had homered in each of the first two games of the series, that at-bat could have easily gone the other way.
TWO UP
Richard Bleier: The lefty reliever proved hugely important, getting four outs in the fifth and sixth, serving as a secure bridge between the starter and the back end of the bullpen.
Justin Turner: Turner extended his hitting streak to four straight with a single, two walks and a game-tying homer.
TWO DOWN
Kaleb Ort: He managed to get credit for the win, but it was a major vulture-piece, as Eck might say. Ort took over in a tie game and issued three walks and tossed a run-scoring wild pitch. But because he was the pitcher of record as the Sox had their big eighth inning, he got the victory.
Triston Casas: Yes, he worked two walks. But he was without a hit in his three other plate appearances, and also failed to make a play on a single off his glove in the fifth inning.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"It's a team that's going to grind until you tell us that the game is over. We've been doing this the whole season. I don't want to say this is who we are, but it seems like, this is who we are.'' Alex Cora on his club's ability to come back late in games.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* Masataka Yoshida became the first Red Sox player to have multiple homers in the same inning since David Ortiz, who did so in 2008.
* The win marked the fourth time the Red Sox have won a game in which they were trailing after seven innings.
* The Red Sox have outscored opponents by a margin of 31-8 in the eighth and ninth innings this season.
* With the victory, the Sox improved to 5-5 on the road.
* Boston has gone 7-3 in its last 10 games despite a 6.48 ERA from its starters in that span.
* Justin Turner now has eight multi-hit games this season.
UP NEXT
The Sox continue their road trip and move on to Baltimore for the first of three with the Orioles. It will be LHP Chris Sale (1-1, 8.00) vs. RHP Dean Kremer (1-0, 6.16) at 6:35 p.m.