Bello Pitches a Shutout in Sox Victory Over Yankees, 2-0; Devers Delivers Solo Homer for 500th XBH

By Zachary McMahon-

The Boston Red Sox hosted the New York Yankees on Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park in Boston, MA. The Sox were trying to sweep the Yankees in the three-game series after winning the first two matches. 

Brayan Bello had a masterclass performance with seven shutout innings, three hits, three walks, and eight strikeouts in a career-high of 114 pitches. This was his second career outing with seven innings or longer with the last being on Aug. 28, 2024 against the Toronto Blue Jays, and retired his last 12 batters. This was his fifth quality start of the season with his third consecutive, and his first such streak when he had seven straight quality starts in 2023. 

This was the sixth consecutive game that the Sox had their starter have quality starts, which ties for the season long streak, and their first streak at Fenway Park since June 2015. 

Max Fried threw for seven innings, he allowed six hits, two runs, two walks, and nine strikeouts in a season-high of 108 pitches. He had tossed six innings or more in 11 out of his last 13 starts. 

Rob Refsnyder hit at the leadoff spot for the third consecutive game, and reached on a error by Anthony Volpe. After Rafael Devers hit into a double play, Romy Gonzalez hit his fifth career triple. Trevor Story hit an RBI single that brings Gonzalez home, as he had back-to-back games with a RBI. 

In the fifth inning, Devers hit a solo home run as he got his 500th XBH, and is the youngest player to reach 500 extra base hits for the Sox. 

Brennan Bernardino came in the eighth inning and allowed back-to-back singles by Paul Goldschmidt and Trent Grisham, but after he struck out DJ LeMathieu who was pinch hitting for Cohasset native Ben Rice. 

Garrett Whitlock came in, and got Aaron Judge to hit into a double play. Whitlock stayed in the ninth inning and retired all three batters he faced in the inning, including strikeouts to Jazz Chisholm Jr and Volpe, as the Sox won 2-0 over the Yankees, and completed the sweep. Whitlock got credit for his first save since 2023. 

The Sox have now won five-straight games, which ties for the season long, and their first five-game home winning streak since July 2023, and it was also their second sweep of the season. It was their first sweep against the Yankees since Aug. 2023 in New York, and at home in June 2023. They faced left handers in three straight games, and won all three, for the first time April, 2023 against the Los Angeles Angels. This was also the first time they had won five straight games consecutively against left handers against the same opponent since 1998 when they won against the Kansas City Royals while facing left handers. 

This was their fifth shutout victory of the season, and their first against the Yankees this season, and the first against the Yankees at Fenway Park since 2023. 

Devers’s home run meant that he has now reached in 12 out of the last 13 games. Story’s single meant that he has an on-base streak of six games. Story also struck out in his last three at-bats, after not striking out in his last three games, which was his longest streak since a four-game streak from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2, 2021 with the Colorado Rockies. 

Gonzalez has hit safely in seven out of the last eight games, and a season-long five straight games with a strikeout. Abraham Toro had singled and struck out twice as he has strikeouts in a season-long five straight games, and tied for his second longest of his career, in 2024 with the Oakland Athletics and 2020 with the Houston Astros. 

Aaron Judge struck out three times in all three games of the series, for the third time in his career and the second time in a three-game series, as he also did this April 2018 against the Angels. 

Trent Grisham lead off with a double for his fourth of the season, and reached on an error by Kristian Campbell, and singled, as it was his 13th multi-hit game of the season. 

The Sox will travel to Seattle to start a nine-game West Coast Road trip when they will face the Mariners, the San Francisco Giants, and the Angels. Monday’s game will have Lucas Giolito going up against Logan Gilbert at 9:40 pm first pitch.