Red Sox recap: Triston Casas crushes huge 3-run homer, Brayan Bello tosses five innings earning the win in 2025 debut

Triston Casas has been one of the most underwhelming hitters in the Red Sox lineup to begin the season. The slugger entered Tuesday’s series opener with the Mariners just 12-for-76 (.158) with a homer and four RBI. The slumping first baseman crushed a huge three-run blast in the seventh inning to give Boston a 7-3 lead. The Sox went on to defeat the Mariners 8-4 in the series opener.

Casas punished Mariners right-handed reliever Trent Thornton by leaving a curveball over the heart of the plate. He sent the pitch 396 feet over the center field wall for his second home run.

“That was a good swing,” Alex Cora said of Casas’ three-run blast. “Hopefully this is the beginning of something good.”

“We need him,” Cora added. “We need him to hit the ball hard, and that’s the most important thing. We know he can control the strike zone, the walk before, right? That was a good sign, but we need him to hit the ball hard.

“It’s not pitch selection, because he’s disciplined. He’s not walking as much, it feels like he’s not hitting the ball as hard as he can,” Cora explained. “We like him to get on base, but we like him to drive the ball, and that was an outstanding swing.”

BELLO’S BACK

Brayan Bello made his 2025 season debut after spending the last few weeks in the minors making rehab starts.

After a rocky first inning where he allowed a solo homer to Jorge Polanco, giving Seattle a fast 1-0 lead, he settled in and had an effective outing. Polanco’s blast was the only run the Sox’ righty allowed on the night.

Bello also walked a batter and hit both Randy Arozarena and Luke Raley in the opening frame. Following the two hit batters, catcher Carlos Narvaez came out to the mound in an attempt to calm down Bello.

The mound visit worked; with traffic on the bases, all self-induced, Bello was able to escape the bases-loaded jam by throwing a slider to Red Sox killer Rowdy Tellez, who hit the ball on the ground, allowing the Sox to end the inning with a 3-6-1 double play.

“He did a good job,” Cora said of Bello. “Triston made a great play in the first inning, and Bello actually finished the play. We turned that double play, kind of like he was able to breathe.”

Bello had a scare in the fourth, grabbing at his lower right leg after throwing a fastball to Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford. He was able to shake off what looked like a cramp, and his catcher helped him out by throwing out Miles Mastrobuoni trying to steal second.

Overall, he allowed one run, four hits, and three walks while striking out three and hitting two batters over five innings.

“It has to be hard, right? Being on the IL, you come back, and that’s a pretty good baseball team over there,” Cora said. “Polanco hits one out right away, and a lot of things going on. He got the ground ball against Rowdy, who’s been a killer for us, right? And then he made pitches. The changeup was good; the slider was better. I believe, from where I was, he was able to use the four-seamer to keep him honest. And for his first one, that was solid for us.”

Bello wasn’t as sharp but effective, doing enough to earn the win. He saw 51 of his 97 pitches land for strikes (52.6%), and he also threw 38 sinkers, which averaged 95.1 mph and topped out at 97.3 mph, according to Statcast. The 25-year-old also mixed in 36 sliders, 17 changeups, and six four-seam fastballs, with seven swings and misses.

Over his last six starts, beginning Aug. 28, 2024, Bello has posted a 2.58 ERA with 34 strikeouts.

With Bello returning to the rotation, the Red Sox are inching closer to having a full staff.

“He’s very important,” Cora said before the game.

OFFENSE DELIVERED

Jarren Duran, who was tied for the most triples (14) with Diamondbacks Corbin Carroll last season, smoked his second triple of the year into the right field corner to lead off the bottom of the first inning. He would score on a Rafael Devers sac fly to deep right field to knot the game at a run apiece.

Alex Bregman put Boston on top in the second inning, 2-1, following a double into left field. Bregman also added a two-run double to left-center field to make it 4-1 in the fifth inning. He had two doubles on Tuesday night, giving him nine for the season. The Sox third baseman has seven multi-hit games this season.

RED SOX NOTABLES

• Liam Hendriks worked a perfect ninth inning in his second relief appearance of the season.

• Ceddanne Rafaela went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, a walk, and two stolen bases. This was the second career game where he stole more than one bag; the last time came on Sept. 15, 2024, at Yankee Stadium. Rafaela is 6-for-6 on stolen base attempts this season, tied with Story and Duran.

• Wilyer Abreu enjoyed an impressive night offensively, going 3-for-4 with a double, a run scored, a walk, and two stolen bases. This was Abreu’s third multi-hit game of the young season.

SEE YOU TOMORROW

The Red Sox have won six of the last seven games and seven of their last nine dating back to April 13. Boston is now 8-4 at home, winning five of their last six home games after losing each of their previous three games.

Red Sox lefty Sean Newcomb (0-2, 3.63 ERA) will start opposite Mariners righty Emerson Hancock (0-1, 12.71 ERA) in the second game of the series. The first pitch will be at 6:45 p.m. and can be seen on NESN.