Red Sox Notes: Brayan Bello Becoming Yankees’ Nemesis

BOSTON — The Yankees had a second crack at Red Sox starting pitcher Brayan Bello in the span of a week Sunday night, but the results were the same.

Bello dominated Boston’s archrival again, spearheading the Red Sox as they completed a three-game sweep of the Yankees with a 4-1 win at Fenway Park.

Bello dazzled through seven innings of work in which he allowed only one run on four hits to go along with three walks and eight strikeouts. The line mirrored how Bello performed last Sunday in the Bronx and in two starts now against the Yankees this season, he has pitched 14 innings giving up three earned runs, seven hits and five walks while striking out 11.

“He keeps getting better,” Cora said. “His usage is getting where we want to. He’s been able to develop his slider in the big leagues. His changeup has always been a weapon. Using his fastball in different areas.

“It’s not easy to do, face the same lineup in back-to-back outings and go seven.”

Bello cruised after yielding a run in the first inning by retiring 11 of 12 batters, but had to bear down in the sixth by stranding two runners. That could have been the end of Bello’s outing with it evident the Yankees were starting to get to him but he came back out to the seventh where he escaped an even more difficult jam than the inning prior.

New York put two runners in scoring position with two outs and the top of the order coming to the plate. But as Bello’s pitch count climbed over triple digits, he continued to rear back and punched out Jake Bauers to end the threat.

“At the end, it was his game where we were bullpen-wise and it worked that way,” Cora said. “We needed seven from him and we got it.”

The strikeout of Bauers put an exclamation point on Bello’s outing and the 24-year-old right-hander sure felt the emotion from it. He displayed a fiery response walking off the mound after getting Bauers swinging on a changeup as he bested the Yankees again.

“The ability is there. It is. He’s enjoying the moment,” Cora said. “He’s been really good. Tonight was a cool night out here and for him to get those three outs in the seventh, I know it means a lot.”

Here are more notes from the second of Sunday’s Red Sox-Yankees doubleheader:

— The Red Sox have had well-documented defensive struggles this season but they were nowhere to be found Sunday night. Pablo Reyes, who got the start at shortstop, made two sensational web-game plays, including climbing the ladder to snag a liner in the top of the second.

Rafael Devers got in on the defensive action an inning later as did Jarren Duran. Devers made a diving stop on Anthony Volpe to open up the third inning and Duran closed the frame out by chasing a long fly ball off the bat of Anthony Rizzo into the triangle before making a highlight-reel catch against the wall.

“In a while, yeah,” Cora said when asked if it was the best defensive game his team played all season. “They hit some balls hard and we made some great plays.”

— Boston swept a doubleheader from New York for the first time since September of 2006. It was the first time the Red Sox won both games of a twin ball against the Yankees at Fenway Park since July 31, 1976, per the team.

— After getting beat up by American League East competition last season, the Red Sox have performed better in the division this year. The Red Sox are now 13-11 against divisional opponents, including 5-1 against the Yankees.

“We want to be where (the Yankees) were last year,” Cora said. “The whole environment last weekend was good over there and this doubleheader was great. The kids are doing an amazing job the last two weekends.”

— The Red Sox begin a seven-game road trip starting Monday with a four-game set against the Minnesota Twins. First pitch from Target Field is scheduled for 7:40 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.