All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Reds, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
HEADLINES
Late comeback falls short: The Red Sox staged a late comeback attempt with three runs in the seventh and a huge five-run ninth inning, but the comeback ultimately fell short after Triston Casas went down swinging.
Bello struggles, bullpen can’t bail him out: Brayan Bello wasn’t sharp with his command, falling behind in counts. He only made it four innings (one run) before turning the game over to the bullpen. Justin Garza and Joely Rodriguez couldn’t hold it down combining to give up seven runs. Rodriguez struggled in particular in the seventh.
“No command [for Bello],” Alex Cora said. “A lot of pitches, you know. He was inefficient. He was behind in the count. The slider wasn’t great. They fouled off a lot of pitches and put us in a bad spot. They did a good job offensively.”
TURNING POINTS
Bottom of the second: Boston had runners on second and third with no outs before Casas took one pitch to ground out. After a Kiké Hernández walk loaded the bases with one away, Enmanuel Valdez went down swinging before Reese McGuire lined out to end the inning. Down 1-0, it could have been a different game if the Red Sox got anything there.
Top of the seventh: The Sox were only down 3-0 heading into the top of the seventh, and left it in an 8-0 hole. Rodriguez couldn’t find the strike zone with three walks, and when he did, he left a fastball up in the zone to give up a grand slam to put the game out of reach.
Bottom of the seventh: Where Boston’s late comeback attempt started with two outs. RBI from Reese McGuire (double), Raimel Tapia (triple) and Rafael Devers (single) put the Red Sox in a spot to make it interesting in the ninth.
THREE UP
Raimel Tapia: Tapia was the leader on offense with a double and a triple, half of Boston’s extra-base hits. Oh-so-close to a home run on his triple and added a second RBI with a single in the ninth. Finished 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs.
Ryan Sherriff: Sheriff was fine coming out of the bullpen, giving up two hits and a run with a pair of strikeouts in 2.2 innings of work. Maybe most importantly, he ate innings well enough that the Sox didn’t have to kill the bullpen in the first game of a long homestand.
Reese McGuire: Another catalyst of the comeback attempt with Tapia. Hit an RBI double in the seventh before another double in the ninth. Finished 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.
THREE DOWN
Kiké Hernández: Kiké (11 errors on the season) became the second Red Sox shortstop in the last 30 years to reach 10 errors before June, joining Julio Lugo. His throwing error in the third nearly cost Boston before Masataka Yoshida bailed the Sox out with a diving catch to end the inning with runners on first and third. Another throwing error in the sixth squandered what should have been the start of an inning-ending double play. Instead, Cincinnati made it 3-0.
Triston Casas: Brutal night at the plate for Casas, going 0-for-5 with a pair of strikeouts. His two groundouts were on the first pitch of both at-bats, and his strikeout to end the game was another big spot he couldn’t come through in. Chased a slider below his knees to end it, stranding the tying run at third and the winning run at second.
Joely Rodriguez: Rodriguez has been wildly up and down since making his debut a few weeks ago, and Tuesday was ugly. Couldn’t find the strike zone at all (three walks in 0.2 innings), and gave up two or more runs for the third time in six appearances. Didn’t help his 18.00 ERA.
“Joely, he was all over the place,” Cora said. “He walked three guys, and [Cincinnati] did what they’re supposed to do.”
NOTABLE
Devers notched his 500th career RBI on a bloop single to right in the seventh to score Tapia after his triple. He is the fourth youngest in Red Sox history to reach the mark at 26 years and 218 days old, behind Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr and Jim Rice.
Yoshida (3-for-4) had multiple hits for a third straight game and his team-leading 20th multi-hit game. He lost track of the outs on a Casas flyout in the eighth with one out, running on contact and allowing Cincinnati to get him the out at second after he took off.
Alex Verdugo was not available to pinch hit because he was not feeling well. Cora expects him to be available Wednesday.
UP NEXT
Second game of the three-game set is set for Wednesday at 7:10 p.m. at Fenway. LHP James Paxton (1-1, 5.14 ERA) will face RHP Luke Weaver (1-2, 5.45 ERA).