BSJ Game Report: Blue Jays 3, Red Sox 0 - Brayan Bello strikes out 10 as offense shuts down

All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 3-0 loss to the Blue Jays, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Brayan Bello dominant after another rough start: Bello's start nearly mirrored his previous one, except he left with a loss due to his three-run homer allowed to Vlad Guerrero Jr. in the third inning. He walked Bo Bichette after allowing a leadoff double to Alejandro Kirk that ended his brief no-hitter to open the game. Guerrero launched his first pitch of his two-out at bat, a fastball over the middle, 400 feet to right field for Toronto's only runs of the game. Bello bounced back as he did against the Orioles last week following a rough start, retiring five straight Jays into the fifth, then striking out five of the final six he saw with sinkers and changeups. Bello reached six innings, keeping Boston within reach on a night where the offense never gained momentum. 

"He was good," Alex Cora said. "That pitch to Vlady, it was a four-seamer middle, he put a good swing on it, but (Bello) gave us six, a quality start and gave us a chance to win the game. He's been good throughout the season, tough first innings and then he's gone seven and eight innings, he did it in Anaheim. Throughout the season, he's been our most consistent starter. Not too many people are talking about him throughout the league, but when you look up, the Ws, the innings, the ERA ... it's been a solid season for him ... you can't take it back, but that first pitch to Vlady, if he had to do it again, he'd go somewhere else."

Offense shut out by Jays pitching: Justin Turner and Wilyer Abreu doubled in the first two innings, but Boston's woes with runners in scoring position continued as the Sox hit 5-32 (.156) and struck out 11 times in only their seventh scoreless game all season. Only four Boston hitters recorded hits and none walked against José Berrías, who struck out eight over seven innings, before Jordan Hicks and Jordan Romano slammed the door with two no-hit innings, striking out three. Turner doubled again in the sixth inning with two outs, finishing 2-4, but Alex Verdugo struck out before the final nine Sox hitters went down in order. 

"We saw Berrías early in his career with the Twins, struggling to get to five (innings), struggling to get to six," Cora said, comparing him to Bello. "That's probably the best I've seen him throughout the years, four-seamer, sinker, breaking ball, his changeup. He was pretty good today stuff-wise. José was a kid with the Twins, and now he's one of the dudes over there with the Jays, so hopefully, we can keep working with Brayan, keep making him better, attack the rest of the season the right way and do certain things in the offseason and be ready for next year." 

THREE UP

Brayan Bello: Mixed his fastball, sinker, slider and changeup well while aggressively throwing strikes. A walk, costly for Sox pitchers in general this year, hurt Bello most in the third after Trevor Story had saved him from dealing with a runner on third with a heads-up play on a grounder. Bello retired George Springer, then eighth pitch to Bichette on a 3-2 count fell just below the zone. Guerrero expected a first-pitch fastball, so Bello switched to his sinker and off-speed stuff for the rest of the night and located well enough to rack up a career-high 10 strikeouts. He struck out three as he approached 100 pitches in the sixth. His ERA in division games fell to 3.38. 

"I would like to take that pitch back (to Guerrero), obviously," Bello said through the team's interpreter. " ... I wanted to pitch outside, that pitch was supposed to be outside, but I think a threw a little bit open and the pitch went down the middle of the plate ... I was able to locate the (other) pitches where I wanted to. I think, overall, it was a great outing for me ... I was trying to be aggressive in the zone ... I just wanted to get quick outs." 

Chris Murphy: Called up from Triple-A Worcester after he posted a 10.67 ERA in five August appearances, including a six-run, 100-pitch effort in the series finale against the Dodgers that preceded the Kyle Barraclough disaster against Houston the following night with Boston's bullpen burned out. Murphy had entered August with a 1.59 ERA in nine appearances, flashing promise as a lefty who can relieve over multiple innings. He did that on Friday, holding the deficit at 3-0 in the seventh and eighth innings, retiring all six hitters he saw and striking out three Jays in the seventh, winning a 10-pitch battle against Daulton Varsho with a slider off the plate to the lefty that tipped into Reese McGuire's glove. 

The young guys: Ceddanne Rafaela hit leadoff for the fourth straight game as a late addition to the lineup and his 1-4 game settled him at .389 over that stretch. He's played outfield and shortstop, as the Sox consider shifting him to second base to address an issue I'll discuss more below. Wilyer Abreu doubled in the second inning, with Boston's two young additions to the lineup late in the season making some of the Sox' most inspired hitting efforts. Rafaela flew down the first base line, coming one step short of legging out a late infield single on a grounder to first base. 

THREE DOWN 

Alex Verdugo: Grabbed his hand or wrist in pain during his ninth-inning at-bat, finishing 0-4 with two strikeouts in another appearance lower in the order. He moved up one spot to cleanup with Triston Casas (shoulder) out as a late scratch. Verdugo fell to 2-18 with five strikeouts over his last four games. 

Luis Urías: Surprised to see him over Pablo Reyes, who's getting his feet under him after an elbow injury. Urías and Reyes split appearances in the Yankee double-headers, and while Urías brings more versatility across the infield, nights like his 0-3 performance at the bottom of the lineup that dropped him to .188 became more common than his back-to-back grand slams that highlighted his arrival at the deadline. Reyes hit .297 across 53 games through this week, showing more promise as a utility shortstop and second baseman to me than Urías did. Either way, this position needs an overhaul this winter. 

Adam Duvall: Sat again after a horrible showing in the Yankees series. Duvall has hit 3-34 with 19 strikeouts in only nine September appearances. Like Verdugo, you have to wonder how likely he is to return next season as he sputters to the finish line. His ability to play center field and power gives him some edge over Verdugo, a strong fielder who hit inconsistently and butted heads with Cora several times. Still, reports that Boston could've received something for Duvall, Chris Sale and James Paxton become harder to swallow watching all three fall apart in the late stages of the season. 

NOTABLE

Triston Casas exited the lineup as a late scratch with shoulder discomfort that isn't considered serious. 

Fired Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom thanked the Red Sox for his four seasons with the team this afternoon in a statement: "I will always be grateful to John, Tom, Mike, and Sam for trusting me to lead the Red Sox baseball operations department. Every day, I gave my teammates and this organization everything I had, and I never took a second for granted. Great things are now in store for the Red Sox. And while I’m sad that I won’t be watching them from the same chair, I will still be very proud. Red Sox fans, you are the best. Your passion fueled me daily, and added meaning to everything I’ve done here. You very much deserve more championships. And you will get them." 

Alex Cora addressed the notion he could replace Bloom as the team's general manager next season pre-game: "That’s something that intrigues me. I’ve done it before on a lower scale, the WBC and winter ball. But it’s something that right now — where I’m at, where we’re at as a family — it’s too soon to start talking about it.”

Hall-of-Famer Peter Gammons said he heard impending free agent Shohei Ohtani has interest in Boston due to his connection to local brand New Balance. Ohtani suffered a torn UCL late this season, stopped pitching and will inevitably undergo some kind of elbow surgery before receiving a potentially record MLB contract as the likely reigning AL MVP. 

UP NEXT 

Saturday vs. Blue Jays at 3:07 p.m., RHP Chris Bassitt (14-8, 3.83 ERA) vs. LHP Chris Sale (6-4, 4.88 ERA)