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With a dramatic 1-0 victory over the New York Yankees on Friday night, Red Sox star pitchers Brayan Bello, Garrett Whitlock, Aroldis Chapman, and No. 9 hitter Connor Wong united to seal the season series.
Bello’s outstanding start, which included seven scoreless innings, set the tone for Boston. He struck out five hitters while giving up three hits and one walk.
The 26-year-old Bello won his tenth game of the year. He has had strong starts in 12 of his last 14 games.
“I felt pretty good today,” Bello remarked after the game via a translator. I thought I was doing a very decent job of commanding my pitches today. So, yes, I had a fairly good outing today.
He has tossed 60 innings with a 1.95 ERA in 10 career starts against the Yankees. For a young pitcher who has a history of letting the moment get to him in past seasons, it’s an astounding statistic.
After the game, manager Alex Cora acknowledged that he nearly sent Bello back out to pitch the eighth inning, which would have reached the milestone of 61 innings.
He was effective, threw strikes, and gained and maintained an advantage. After the game, Cora told reporters, “I even considered him going out in the eighth, but then I hesitated.” Aroldis Chapman and Garrett Whitlock, our two men, are exceptionally skilled in their respective fields. He went above and above. Tonight, every pitch mattered, and I’m happy he had a fantastic one.
Alex Cora praising Brayan Bello in some way”It feels like [a crochet day] every five days. We’ll be alright, it’s Brayan’s night.”APIMgApQMu pic.twitter.com/
Bello had a fantastic game, helping the Red Sox win 70-59, their 70th victory of the season.
Cora likened Bello’s season-long performance to that of Red Sox star Garrett Crochet.
He now feels like crocheting every five days. “Cora said.” Like, we’ll be alright, it’s Brayan’s night.
The Red Sox really benefited from Bello’s run of outstanding pitching, which was reminiscent of Crochet’s. The Red Sox’s season record against the Yankees is now 7-1. Boston would receive the playoff-seeding tiebreaker if the teams end the regular season with the same record after winning the season series versus New York.
The Red Sox now hold the top wild card place in the American League as a result of the victory.
But without Wong’s bat, Boston doesn’t win that game.
Wong plated new colleague Nathaniel Lowe with an RBI double down the line in the top of the seventh inning. Despite having a.189 batting average for the season, Wong has six hits and a.286 batting average over his last seven games. For a player who has only six RBI and 25 hits in 132 at-bats, that is a significant improvement.
Whitlock’s and Chapman’s shutdown performances in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, are also crucial to the victory. To hold the Yankees at bay, both pitchers faced three hitters each and recorded two strikeouts. Whitlock only need 14 pitches, or 11 strikes, and 10 pitches, or 9 strikes, from Chapman.
On Saturday, the Red Sox will try to defeat the Yankees in their four-game series. At 1:05 PM Eastern Time, Boston’s Garrett Crochet will take the mound against Will Warren of New York.
Boston.com sports producer Kaley Brown covers the Boston Bruins, Boston Celtics, Patriots, and Boston Red Sox.
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