The Red Sox bullpen gave up six runs over five innings, erasing the stellar pitching performance of Brayan Bello, but Alex Verdugo bailed them out with the game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the tenth.
In the second game of the short series at Fenway Park, Boston’s bats had no issue getting to Cleveland’s starting pitcher Zach Plesac by scoring five runs on the righty off eight hits in just three innings.
And who else got Boston going? Rafael Devers, of course.
Devers launched his American League-leading tenth home run in the bottom of the first, giving Boston the early 3-0 lead.
“He’s been working hard on a few things mechanically,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “It paid off right away today. That ball was hit hard. He knows what he needs to do. He understands his swing.”
Devers has 27 RBIs in 27 games while slashing .239/.286/.578.
“Obviously, he’s swinging, and he’ll get hot,” Cora said of the slugger. “I know he has 10 homers, and he’s hit in a lot of runs, but he’s not even locked in, so that’s cool to know.”
The Red Sox would add three more runs and headed into the seventh inning with the 6-1, but the Guardians didn’t simply lay their bats down instead, they rallied with four runs in the inning before tying the game in the top of the ninth. Cora said closer Kenley Jansen had a back spasm and wasn’t quite himself and despite giving up the lead, the bullpen had some bright spots.
“I think (Brennan) Bernardino did an amazing job in that inning,” Cora said. “They score one, so be it but he limited the damage, and that’s what you do in extra innings and give us the chance to win the game.”
With the other members of the bullpen, Cora didn’t have much to say.
“I am concerned. We got to be better.”
Here are more notes from Saturday’s Red Sox-Guardians game:
— Bello had a solid outing on the mound allowing just one run on five hits while striking out five in five innings. Bello threw 84 pitches and probably would not have come out when he did had it not been for an issue with a finger on his pitching hand.
“He had a blister on the top of his index finger that kind of started bleeding,” Cora explained. “I think it’s the grip of his slider so it got him.”
Despite getting the no-decision in the match-up, Cora thought Bello had a decent outing.
“He battled today, and it was really good,” Cora said. “I think early on he got that ground ball play to settle him down and was able to use his changeup in certain counts. Although his strike-throwing was iffy, right kind of 50-50, he made some pitches when he had to.”
Bello was recalled from Triple-A Worcester following Garrett Whitlock being placed on the 15-day injured list on Tuesday.
— Masataka Yoshida continued his hitting streak to nine games going 1-for-4 with a walk. In 22 games, Yoshida is batting .274 with four home runs and 16 RBIs.
— The bottom of the line-up, Raimel Tapia, Enmanuel Valdez, Christian Arroyo and Connor Wong came up big for the Red Sox today going 9-for-17 collectively scoring five runs in the win.
— The Red Sox will wrap up their three-game series with Cleveland on Sunday. First pitch from Fenway Park for the rubber match is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET. You can watch all the action, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.
