Red Sox 4, Rangers 2: Bello Day Strikes Again

Brayan Bello continues to be a beast.

Was it his sharpest outing? Not at all. Tossing over forty pitches in his first two innings had me royally concerned. To recover the way he did, get through seven frames with 107 pitches, that’s ace material, as far as I’m concerned. The NESN broadcast did a lot of talking about Bello’s growth and what comes next, and tonight’s game is the perfect example of where he goes next. Did David Hamilton’s bobbles in the second inning add another few pitches to Bello’s box score? Yeah, it definitely did. However, Bello adjusted as he went through the game, forcing outs quicker and quicker to get himself as far as he did. The next step in his evolution is getting to that transition faster to get out of jams quicker.

Baseball Savant

Bello relied a good deal on his changeup tonight, only three pitches fewer than his sinker. His changeup (in green) missed the zone most of the time, but as the game went on, it became more of a matchup pitch. Instead of mixing it in every other at-bat, he targeted it to guys who were prone to chasing it after seeing his faster arsenal, namely Adolis Garcia. That’s tremendous baseball IQ, regardless of whether he came up with that plan of attack on his own or the coaching staff worked with him on it. It’s up to Bello to execute the plan, and he did virtually flawlessly late in the game.

How about Justin Turner? Another RBI single in as he continues to be productive with Duran at the top of the lineup, and two RBIs as a whole on the game.

How about the one-two punch of Chris Martin and Kenley Jansen? We predicted Martin would be an effective set-up man, and he did a fine job of it tonight. Jansen pitched a flawless ninth to seal this win. If the Red Sox are sellers, these two are probably names to watch. If they’re not, we hope they continue to produce like tonight.

It’s still up in the air who these Red Sox are. Still hovering around.500, but hanging around the last Wild Card spot. Is it worth investing in this team? The next few weeks will be telling. More wins like this would give us more faith.

FanGraphs

Three Studs

Brayan Bello (.230 WPA, 7.0 IP, 8 H, 1 HR, 2 ER, 3 K)

Even without his sharpest stuff, Bello was an absolute workhorse tonight. He’s been such a bright spot in a roller coaster 2023 season.

David Hamilton (.128 WPA, 1-for-2, 1 BB)

Despite two defensive miscues, Hamilton showed the speed he has to burn with his RBI double to extend the Red Sox’s lead late.

Kenley Jansen (.080 WPA, 1.0 IP, save)

A clean, clean save. The Red Sox lone All-Star doing just what he needed.

Three Duds

Rafael Devers (-.057 WPA, 0-for-4)

Three lineouts and a groundout, but he’s making solid contact. Some nights, they’re outs, some nights, they’re hits.

Christian Arroyo (-.034 WPA, 1-for-3, 1 run, 1 BB)

Arroyo had some heads-up base running to score after Adolis Garcia’s misplay in right field. Honestly hard to call anyone a dud tonight.

Jarren Duran (-.031 WPA, 1-for-4, 1 run)

A single, a steal, and a run scored. Duran doing the right things to keep himself in this lineup. Again, hard to call him or anyone a dud.

Play of the Game

For the game as a whole and for the Red Sox with a WPA of .135, it’s David Hamilton’s RBI double to right that extended the Sox’s lead to two.