Game 54: Reds at Red Sox

It’s Bello Day! The Red Sox welcome the Cincinnati Reds to town in tale of two teams. Boston is in 4th place in the AL East with a 28-25 record, sitting 9.5 games behind the division leading Tampa Bay Rays. Cincinnati meanwhile is at just 24-29 and a mere 4 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers. Welcome to the Comedy Central.

Sox ace-in-the-making (Pedro sees it!) Brayan Bello looks like he’s figuring out the majors. Last time out he held the Los Angeles Angels to just 2 runs over 7 innings. The Reds offense sits right around the Chicago White Sox in the bottom half of MLB. Maybe Bello follows up with another strong outing.

The Sox offense won’t necessarily have an easy time, however. Starter Ben Lively it’s a 31 year old who had last appeared in the majors in 2019 until earlier this month. He’s made two relief appearances and two starts. He’s struck out 18 batters over his 17 innings while walking 3 and allowing 5 runs. He’s faced the Mets, Rockies, Yankees, and Cardinals. So, some good hitters but also not necessarily great lineups three times per game. If he stays as the hot hand the Reds would sure be happy but with career numbers that don’t really match this season at all it could go south fast. Maybe tonight.

First pitch is at 7:10 PM ET on WEEI and NESN.