Sunday afternoon was nearly all sunshine and roses for Brayan Bello and the Red Sox, who defeated the Guardians 13-3 to win their first series against the Cleveland club since 2023.
Making his second start of the year, Bello went six innings and held the Guardians to three earned runs on six hits, three walks, and four strikeouts on 99 pitches (61 strikes).
“(He) gave us more than enough,” manager Alex Cora told reporters.
Bello took a 9-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth, but his shutout bid ended there. Scaling back his fastball usage led to trouble; Bello issued a leadoff walk to Angel Martínez, gave up a single to José Ramírez, and the Guardians got on the board on Nolan Jones’ three-run homer before wrapping up his final frame.
“I feel very good,” Bello told reporters via translator Carlos Benitez. “Threw a lot of changeups today, and that’s one of the pitches that I was working on improving from last start to this one, and I feel like it worked very well.”
An enormous performance by the Boston bats certainly helped. The Guardians made four errors and only collected eight hits, four walks, struck out nine times, and went 1 for 4 with runners in scoring position, stranding eight men. The Red Sox tallied 15 hits (including six for extra bases), drew five walks, only struck out seven times, and were 5 for 15 with runners in scoring position and seven left on base.
“It’s very good, because I focus on just getting outs,” Bello said. “Fly-balls, ground-balls, I don’t tend to focus too much on strikeouts or anything like that. So for me, when you throw with a lead, it’s easier.”
Guardians starter Logan Allen had allowed one earned run over his previous three starts, but he couldn’t keep Boston off the bases. The Cleveland southpaw lasted just 4.1 innings and gave up seven earned runs on nine hits, three walks, and two strikeouts.
Rob ‘Southpaw Slayer’ Refsnyder got the Red Sox started with a solo homer in the second, and beginning in the fourth, Boston scored in four consecutive innings. Their five-run fifth inning was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Devers and Bregman led off with a pair of singles, Allen walked Trevor Story to load the bases, and Refsnyder made it 4-0 with a sacrifice fly. Allen followed with a bases-reloading walk Romy Gonzalez, and had to pass the baton to the bullpen.
Replacing Allen, Paul Sewald became the victim of a base-running rarity. After greeting the Guardians reliever with a two-run single, Kristian Campbell and Gonzalez successfully executed a double steal. Thus, less than 24 hours after Jarren Duran had the club’s first straight-steal of home since Jacoby Ellsbury in 2009, Gonzalez dove headfirst into home. According to Elias Sports Bureau, the 2020 Miami Marlins were the last team to steal home in consecutive games, and the Red Sox hadn’t done so since before the Expansion Era began in 1961.
“It’s a combination of everything: we prepare them, they see it, they execute,” Cora said, “and I think out of all the aspects of the game, the base-running part of it, in 30 games, has been outstanding.”
It was a banner day for several Boston batters. Duran collected a team-leading four hits – including 3 for 3 against Allen – and drove in a run. The Red Sox leadoff man was 3 for 32 against lefties entering the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, and 6 for 8 against them over the last two games.
“We like to play aggressive and cause pressure,” he told reporters.
Devers led off the sixth with a solo homer, his second of the series. His 479th career extra-base hit tied Xander Bogaerts for 12th on the Red Sox’s all-time list.
In addition to his steal in the fifth, Campbell reached base safely in all five plate appearances, drawing three walks, collecting a single and double, scoring four times and driving in a pair of runs. According to the club’s former PR director Justin Long, only one other Red Sox player younger than 23 has ever posted a higher on-base percentage through the team’s first 30 games of a season: Ted Williams.
“He did a great job, put pressure running the bases, played good defense,” Cora lauded his 22-year-old rookie second baseman. “All-around probably one of his best, if not the best game of the season.”
Ceddanne Rafaela had his third career 5-RBI game, going 2 for 4 with a double and home run, the club’s league-leading 11th three-run homer. (No other team has more than six.)
The Boston bullpen held down the fort the rest of the way. Garrett Whitlock pitched a scoreless seventh. Sean Newcomb, who will likely lose his spot in the rotation when Lucas Giolito comes off the injured list this week, pitched a scoreless eighth, striking out three around a one-out single.
The Guardians waved the white flag in the ninth, sending catcher Austin Hedges to the mound to pitch. Duran capped off his four-hit day with an RBI double, giving Liam Hendriks a comfortable 10-run lead when he closed out the bottom of the ninth for the win.
Controversy in Cleveland
There was a tense moment in the middle of the seventh inning when a fan seated near the visitors’ dugout began shouting obscenities at Duran. According to MassLive’s Chris Smith, the fan told Duran, “Go (expletive) kill yourself” after he flew out in the top of the inning.
The comment understandably struck a nerve with Duran, who opened up in Netflix’s ’24 Red Sox docuseries ‘The Clubhouse’ about attempting suicide after struggling earlier in his big-league career. Rafaela had to lead him away from the stands as teammates and coaches emerged from the dugout. Fans in the area were outraged on Duran’s behalf.
“The fan said something inappropriate, and I’m just happy that the security handled it and the umpires were aware of it, and they took care of it for me,” Duran said. “When you open yourself up like that you’re also opening yourself up to the enemies.”
The Guardians also issued the following statement:
“We are aware of the situation that took place during today’s game between a fan and one of the Red Sox players that violated our fan conduct policy. We recognize the gravity of the behavior at issue here and take very seriously conduct of this nature. We apologize to the Red Sox organization, the player involved, fans in the area and are addressing the situation. We have identified the fan in question and will work with Major League Baseball regarding next steps. We strive to provide the best experience to visiting players and fans, and that fell short today.”
Paying tribute
Bello’s cleats for Sunday’s game paid tribute to the victims of the tragic nightclub roof collapse in his native Dominican Republic on April 8. Hundreds were injured and 232 killed, including former MLB pitcher Octavio Dotel, who once held a record of playing for 13 different franchises, and former Washington Nationals player Tony Blanco. Red Sox legend Pedro Martinez, a mentor of Bello’s, announced earlier this month that members of his family had been inside the nightclub at the time and were missing.
“It was a big tragedy for the country and for us, and obviously we see it is a tough time for all the people that lost their loved ones in there,” Bello said. “So for me to be able to honor them at least with the cleats, it was something that was very important to me and it meant a lot to me.”
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