BOSTON — The Red Sox entered Wednesday night’s matchup with the Blue Jays in desperate need of a momentum builder, but the team received much more when Brayan Bello took the mound to face off against Toronto’s lineup.
Bello provided not just a quality start, not just a dominant start, but a masterful career-best start by supplying Boston with eight shutout innings while allowing just two hits and striking out nine. What was even more impressive was Bello worked with just one run of support throughout the night, leaving the mound after a 1-2-3 eighth inning to secure a career-high in innings pitched for the 25-year-old.
“He had a great ballgame tonight,” outfielder Tyler O’Neill said after Boston’s 3-0 win. “Eight innings, kept the ball on the ground, got early outs, kept the defense into it so that was awesome to see. We weren’t out there too long at all. Kept us with movement through the dugout and getting back on the sticks every inning is helpful for sure. I like Bello on the mound. He’s a bulldog out there. He’s coming right at you. Today, really mixed well and hit those spots and obviously, that’s the potential that he has.”
Boston couldn’t have asked for a more timely response from Bello on the mound. The Red Sox entered Wednesday night’s division battle with Toronto sitting four games back for the third and final playoff spot in the American League wild card standings. The recent struggles at home (7-11 since All-Star break), inability to record a sweep since the Midsummer Classic, and ongoing race against the regular season countdown have only amplified the importance of every pitch, swing and inning the rest of the way.
With that being said, Bello understood the assignment.
“That was amazing. That was fun to watch,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Under control pitch by pitch. Didn’t get ahead. The sinker was good, the four-seamer was great. Changeup, the slider was outstanding. His best outing in the big leagues — against a team that’s given him trouble. He was able to keep them off-balance, used the fastball enough to keep them honest and he was outstanding.”
Here are more notes from Wednesday night’s Blue Jays-Red Sox game:
— Bello’s work-of-art start marked the second time this season in which a Red Sox pitcher went at least eight innings on the mound, joining teammate Tanner Houck (April 17 vs. Cleveland Guardians). Bello also recorded nine-plus strikeouts for the second time this season and improved to 12-6 with the victory.
“I definitely think that was one of my better starts in the big leagues,” Bello said. “In all phases, I thought it was one of the best. We’re in the middle of a (playoff race) so I really wanted to win this game so that we can keep going forward like we have to.”
— O’Neill belted a clutch, much-needed two-run insurance home run in the bottom of the eighth inning off Toronto’s Brendon Little, giving the right-handed slugger 24 this season. O’Neill’s also continued to dominate the Blue Jays at the plate since joining the Red Sox, recording now seven extra-base hits, including five home runs in nine games played against Toronto (8-for-32).
“That pull-side homer plays here (at Fenway Park),” Cora explained. “He’s locked in and it helps. It’s a 1-0 game, (David Hamilton) gets on and one pitch, and all of a sudden we can breathe. That’s all I was talking about. I’m glad that he hit that one, put some good at-bats, hit the ball the other way, stayed on the fastball, didn’t jump on the off-speed pitches. So hopefully this is the beginning of something good.”
— Postseason watch: Boston’s win, along with the Minnesota Twins falling to the Atlanta Braves, 5-1, on Wednesday night, brought the Red Sox within three games of the final AL wild card spot; which came off the back of ex-Boston pitcher Chris Sale’s six innings of one-run ball on the mound.
— Boston improved to 17-8 in Bello’s starts, including 6-1 in the last seven.
— The Red Sox and Blue Jays wrap up their three-game series on Thursday night. First pitch from Fenway Park is set for 7:10 p.m. ET, and you can catch the game, plus a full hour of pregame coverage, live on NESN.
