Red Sox 0, Rays 5: Frustrating Fenway Finale

The Red Sox went 1-4 on their final homestand of the season, including four straight losses.

Bummer.

Aside from the bottom of the second, the Red Sox offense looked incredibly un-menacing. Bello struggled again, as his season ends with a whimper. Honestly, I’m only putting in as much effort into this recap as the Red Sox did in their game tonight. That’s to say, not much.

FanGraphs

Three Studs

Nope

I genuinely can’t think of anything redeeming about this game. Maybe Justin Turner getting pulled so he could get a deserved ovation for his performance this season. But that’s about it.

Three Duds

Ceddanne Rafaela (0-for-4, 3 Ks, -.068 WPA)

Wearing the sombrero in your box score (three strikeouts) isn’t an awesome look.

Enmanuel Valdez (0-for-3, 2 Ks, -.183 WPA)

Down 1-0 with the bases loaded and one down and you ground into a double play? That’s an at-bat worthy of snapping your bat in half. Striking out in your other two plate appearances doesn’t help either.

Brayan Bello (6.0 IP, 9 H, 2 HR, 5 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, loss)

Was it important to see Bello go six innings? Sure, in the grand scheme of things. Was this a good outing? No. Bello’s certainly learned how strenuous a full MLB season is, and his numbers took a toll for it.

That’s ugly. Even if he was able to work out of jams, he caused himself more damage than he did good. Not that the bats helped him at all.

Play of the Game

Josh Lowe’s solo HR tops the charts with a .099 WPA.