All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 8-3 win over the Cubs, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
HEADLINES
Red Sox slug season-high six home runs: You combine a Boston team that has started to swing the bats pretty well, a nice breeze blowing out of Wrigley Field and a starter in Kyle Hendricks who kept elevating his change-up, and it sets up for a season-high six home runs for the visitors.
Rafael Devers hit two of the dingers — the second was a titanic missile off the right-field scoreboard — while Justin Turner, Adam Duvall, Triston Casas and Yu Chang also went deep. Boston has won six straight and 9 of 10 to climb six games over .500 and into a tie with the Yankees for fourth in the AL East. Both are 2 games out of the wild card.
"We're going to hit, we know that, it's just a matter of staying within our approach," Alex Cora told reporters. "Obviously it played very small here and we hit the ball in the air and we got rewarded for it, but I like the quality of the at-bats. We're playing good baseball right now. And hopefully we can continue tomorrow."
On a flight to Chicago, Devers kidded Brayan Bello he would hit two homers on Friday.
“We were just on the plane and having fun, laughing,” Devers, who now has 22 homers, said through a translator. “I jokingly said I’d hit two homers today, but it ended up happening.”
Bello still hot: He may have allowed three earned runs for the first time in six starts, but Cora was impressed with Bello's eight-hit, no-walk outing.
"He was good, man," Cora said. "In those conditions, in that ballpark, it's tough. Anything that they hit in the air, it seems like it was going out. He gave him two homers but he gave us six you know and it's a tough game. It's a tough game for starters kind of like coming out of the break and setting the tempo you know with us. ... That was a good win for everybody."
Bello tossed six innings for his fourth win in five starts, allowing two runs on six hits while striking out five and walking none. Bello (7-5) has reached six or more innings in seven straight outings.
THREE UP
Rafael Devers: Started the second half with a wind-aided homer, a missile and a sharp liner. That sounds enticing.
Masataka Yoshida: Was 2-for-5, his eighth straight multi-hit game. That's the longest streak by a Red Sox left-handed hitter since Ted Williams, per Sox Notes.
Jarren Duran: Duran sort of got things restarted in the third inning when he busted his butt out of the box on a routine single and played it into a double when Ian Happ's rushed throw was off line. He came around on Justin Turner sac fly.
Josh Winckowski/Brennan Bernardino: The R/L combo pitched sensational seventh and eight innings, respectively, facing the minimum with no hits and three strikeouts.
ONE DOWN
Tay Scott: Things were not as smooth in the ninth as Scott loaded the bases with a hit and two walks with two outs, which forced a move to Kenley Jansen for a three-pitch strikeout to end the drama.
NOTABLE
Cora said RHP Corey Kluber (shoulder inflammation) will pitch in a rehab assignment “if everything goes well” on July 21, a month after the two-time AL Cy Young winner went on the IL …. RHP John Schreiber (teres major strain) was expected to pitch in a rehab appearance at Triple-A Jacksonville on Friday. LHP Richard Bleier (shoulder inflammation) will toss there on Sunday. …LHP Chris Sale (shoulder inflammation) is scheduled to throw a bullpen session on July 18.
UP NEXT
Boston LHP James Paxton (5-1, 2.73) faces Chicago RHP Marcus Stroman (9-6, 2.96) at 2:20 p.m. ET