Red Sox Notes: Bullpen Gets Job Done In Boston’s Series Win Vs. Mets

The Boston Red Sox took the field against the New York Mets in the series finale at Fenway Park on Sunday night hoping to win the rubber game on the pitching of the bullpen.

The relievers not only delivered for Boston, but the offense tallied six runs on 15 hits resulting in the series win for the Red Sox.

Without a starter available for the game, Red Sox skipper Alex Cora elected 31-year-old southpaw Brennan Bernardino to take the hill first. The lefty only needed 14 pitches to retire the side in order in the first. Bernardino would come back out in the second where he allowed one hit before shutting down the final two batters he faced throwing 78.6% of his pitches for strikes (22-of-28 pitches), striking out three and walking none.

Next out of the bullpen was middle reliever Chris Martin, who is doing exactly what the Red Sox need him to do — pitch a lot of innings and not give up a lot of runs.

Martin faced 15 batters, allowing one run on three hits in three and two-thirds inning of work. The left-handed pitcher struck out three and walked two while earning the win. He only threw 58.8% of his pitches for strikes (30-for-51 pitches) but the 25-year-old did his job before handing the ball over to the rest of the pen.

Cora used five additional pitchers across the final three and two-third innings — Josh Winckowski, Joely Rodriguez, Joe Jacques, Chris Martin and Brandon Walter — of the win, holding the Mets to just two hits while collectively striking out four and walking one.

Here are more notes from Sunday’s Red Sox-Mets games:

— Rafael Devers crushed a 413-foot bomb to right center for his 24th round tripper of the season. The third baseman now has 163 career home runs, passing both Tony Conigliaro and Carlton Fisk for 14th most in Red Sox history, according to Red Sox senior manager of media relations and baseball information J.P. Long

— The Red Sox, taking 2-of-3 from the Mets, improved to 18-12-2 in series play this season, going 10-6-0 at Fenway.

— Boston improved to 36-12 when scoring first, 48-16 when scoring four or more runs and 39-23 when recording a home run. The Red Sox have gone 20-12 since June 15, the best record in the American League.

— The Red Sox open a three-game interleague series with the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday. First pitch from Fenway is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET. You can catch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.