FINAL: Blue Jays 3, Red Sox 0 - Brayan Bello strikes out 10; Guerrero homers

WHO: Red Sox (74-73) vs. Blue Jays (80-67)
WHEN: 7:07 p.m. 
WHERE: Rodgers Center, Toronto. 
SERIES TO DATE: Boston leads, 7-3. 
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP José Berríos (10-10, 3.63 ERA) vs. RHP Bryan Bello (12-8, 3.68 ERA) 
TV/RADIO: NESN, WEEI-FM 93.7

LIVE BOX

LINEUP

RED SOX

Rafaela CF 
Devers 3B 
Turner 1B
Verdugo RF 
Yoshida DH 
Abreu LF
Story SS
McGuire C
Urías 2B
Bello SP

BLUE JAYS 

Springer RF 
Bichette SS 
Guerrero Jr. 1B
Schneider DH
Biggio 2B
Chapman 3B
Kiermaier CF
Kirk C 
Varsho LF 
Berríos SP 

PRE-GAME NOTES 

The Red Sox today recalled LHP Chris Murphy and optioned LHP Brandon Walter to Triple-A Worcester. 

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." 

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. 

WHAT'S UP

The Red Sox went 2-5 over their 7-game homestand vs. BAL (1-2) and NYY (1-3)...They have lost 7 of their last 9 games and 12 of their last 17...The Sox are 18-23 in 41 games since the start of August...At 74-73 (.503), Boston is tied with the New York Yankees for MLB’s 17th-best record...Boston lost their 4-game series vs. NYY to fall to 23-21-3 in series play...They’re 1-5-0 in their last 6 series, after going 3-1-1 in their previous 5...The Red Sox are 7-3 against the Blue Jays this season...They’ve lost each of their last 3 meetings after winning each of the first 7...In 2022, the Red Sox went 3-16 vs. TOR...They entered this season on a 9-game losing streak vs. TOR...Boston swept Toronto in a 3-game series at Rogers Centre from 6/30-7/2...It marked the Sox’ 1st sweep of 3+ games at the venue since 8/28-30/2017...The Red Sox own a 148-119 (.554) all-time record at Rogers Centre...They have won more games than any visiting team at the venue and own the best winning percentage of any AL team, including TOR...The only other teams with 100+ wins are NYY (131) and BAL (109)...Rafael Devers hit his 170th career HR in Game 2 yesterday, tying Jackie Jensen for 13th most in Red Sox history...He’s 2 HR shy of tying Jim Rice for most by a Red Sox player prior to turning 27 years old...Devers has also tied Vladimir Guerrero for 2nd-most HR by a Dominican-born player before turning 27 (1st: Albert Pujols-250)...His HR was his 398th career XBH, passing Adrián Beltré for 3rd most among Dominican-born players before turning 27 (1st: Albert Pujols-522, 2nd: César Cedeño-433)...Masataka Yoshida (535 PA) and Triston Casas (502) are the 1st pair of Red Sox rookies to record 500+ PA in the same season since Jim Rice (613) and Fred Lynn (605) in 1975 (source: Elias)...Red Sox rookies have hit 47 HR this season, 2nd most in club history behind 1987 (67 HR)...The only teams with more HR by rookies in 2023 are CIN (55) and OAK (48)...Since making their MLB debuts, Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela have combined to hit .368 (32-for-87) with 8 doubles, 3 HR, 16 runs scored, and 13 RBI…Abreu has posted a .367/.436/.510/.946 slash line with 10 RBI in 17 games...Rafaela owns a .368/.400/.632/1.032 line with 9 runs scored in 15 games...RHP Brayan Bello arned his team-leading 12th win on Sunday vs. BAL...Allowed 3 runs over 5.0 innings (7 H, 3 ER, 4 SO)...The Red Sox improved to 17-8 in his starts (7-2 in his last 9, 12-4 in his last 16)...Leads Sox starters in ERA (3.68)...Owns a 3.38 ERA in his last 7 starts (15 ER/40.0 IP)...In 7 starts vs. AL East teams in 2023, is 5-1 with a 3.00 ERA (14 ER/42.0 IP)...Allowed 4 runs (2 ER) over 5.0 IP in his lone start vs. TOR this season (W, 6 H, HR, BB, 5 SO)...Leads Red Sox pitchers in wins (12), starts (25), and innings (142.0)...The last pitcher to lead BOS in each of those categories was Eduardo Rodriguez in 2019; the last to do so in an age-24 season (or younger) was Roger Clemens in 1987...Opponents have hit .182 (26-for-143, 7 XBH) with 51 SO against his changeup...