Tag: 2023 season

Tanner Houck allows 4 runs in 5 innings as Red Sox drop series finale to Orioles, 6-2

After splitting the first two games, the Red Sox came up short of a series win over the Orioles in Wednesday afternoon’s finale. Boston instead fell to Baltimore by a final score of 6-2 at Camden Yards to drop the series and drop back to .500 on the season at 13-13.

The Red Sox were previously unbeaten in games started by Tanner Houck. That is no longer the case. Houck, making his fifth start of the year for Boston, allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits and two walks to go along with two strikeouts over five innings of work.

Coming off a career-high seven innings in his last time out, Houck ran into some immediate trouble in the bottom of the first on Wednesday. After Cedric Mullins led off with a single, Adley Rutschman reached on a fielding error committed by rookie second baseman Enmanuel Valdez. Valdez’s third error of the season already put runners at the corners for Anthony Santander, who got the Orioles on the board first by plating Mullins on a sacrifice fly to center field.

It did not take long for the Red Sox to respond, though, as Mastataka Yoshida led off the second inning with a 412-foot solo shot off Orioles starter Tyler Wells. Yoshida’s fourth homer of the year pulled Boston back even with Baltimore at 1-1, but the Orioles began to pull away in their half of the fourth.

Houck gave up three consecutive singles to Adam Frazier, Ryan O’Hearn, and Ramon Urias. Frazier came into score on Urias’ base hit. Following a successful sacrifice bunt from Terrin Vavra, Mullins drove in O’Hearn with an RBI single that deflected off Valdez. Rutschman then brought in Urias from third with a sacrifice fly that put the O’s up, 4-1, going into the fifth.

Santander’s fly ball had an expected batting average of .650, but Yoshida made a fantastic diving catch in left field to rob Santander of a hit and prevent at least one additional run from scoring.

The fifth inning would prove to be Houck’s last. The 26-year-old right-hander finished with 86 pitches (59 strikes), but he only induced six swings-and-misses. He was also charged with his first losing decision of the season as his ERA rose to 4.50.

With Houck’s day done, Boston got back on the board in the sixth. Alex Verdugo laced a one-out double and scored his side’s second run a Justin Turner RBI single that knocked Wells out of the game. Baltimore, however, wasted no time in retaliating.

Richard Bleier, who took over for Houck in the bottom of the sixth, yielded back-to-back singles to the first two batters he faced. Mullins dropped down another bunt to move up both runners and Rutschman drew a walk to fill the bases for Santander, who drove in Urias from third on a sacrifice fly to give the Orioles a 5-2 lead.

The Sox had a golden opportunity to cut into that deficit in the seventh, as Enrique Hernandez and Jarren Duran each singled to put runners at first and second with no out. The Orioles then dipped into their bullpen, pulling Danny Coulombe for Yennier Cano. Cano responded to the challenge by fanning Christian Arroyo and retiring the pinch-hitting Reese McGuire to extinguish the threat.

From there, Brennan Bernardino put up a zero in the bottom of the seventh and John Schreiber yielded an RBI double to Urias in the eighth to put the Red Sox in a 6-2 hole. Down to their final three outs in the ninth, Hernandez and Triston Casas made things somewhat interesting by reaching base off Orioles closer Felix Bautista. But Bautista did not waver, as he sat down the next three batters he faced to send the Red Sox home losers after going 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and leaving seven runners on base as a team.

With Wednesday’s loss, which took two hours and 27 minutes to complete, the Red Sox wrap up their six-game road trip having gone 3-3. They are now 3-3 against the Orioles and 3-7 against divisional opponents as a whole.

Next up: Off day on Thursday, then Bieber vs. Pivetta on Friday

The Red Sox will travel back to Boston and have Thursday off after playing 19 games in 19 days and going 10-9 in that stretch. They will then welcome the Guardians into town for a three-game weekend series at Fenway Park beginning on Friday.

Nick Pivetta will get the start for Boston in the series opener opposite fellow right-hander Shane Bieber for Cleveland.

First pitch from Fenway Park is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. eastern time on NESN.

(Picture of Tanner Houck: Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Jarren Duran belts grand slam, Corey Kluber delivers with strong start as Red Sox hold on for 8-6 win over Orioles

The Red Sox blew a four-run lead in a series-opening loss to the Orioles on Monday. They made sure not to repeat the same mistakes in the middle game of this three-game series on Tuesday night.

Powered by Jarren Duran’s first grand slam and Corey Kluber’s first quality start in a Red Sox uniform, Boston defeated Baltimore by a final score of 8-6 at Camden Yards to get back over .500 at 13-12 on the season.

With Kyle Bradish starting for the O’s, the Sox drew first blood in their half of the second inning. Triston Casas drew a one-out walk and went from first to third base on a Duran double. Christian Arroyo then opened the scoring by plating Casas with an opposite-field RBI single. McGuire followed with an opposite-field single of his own to push across Duran. Rafael Devers capped off the three-run frame by scoring Arroyo on a sacrifice fly.

Boston continued to add to its lead in the top of the third. Three consecutive singles from Masataka Yoshida, Enrique Hernandez, and Casas to lead off the inning filled the bases for Duran. Duran, in turn, promptly unloaded the bases by crushing a 2-2, 86.8 mph slider from Bradish 409 feet over the center field wall for his first career grand slam.

Duran’s slam, which left his bat at 107.8 mph, put the Red Sox up, 7-0, as Kluber was in the midst of a much-needed quality outing. The veteran right-hander came into the evening with an 8.50 ERA through his first four starts of the year, but he rebounded in a nice way on Tuesday.

Over six strong innings of work, Kluber allowed just one earned run on five hits and zero walks to go along with three strikeouts on the night. He tossed four scoreless innings out of the gate before serving up a two-out solo shot to Jorge Mateo in the bottom of the fifth.

After giving up that homer to Mateo, though, Kluber retired four of the final five batters he faced through the middle of the sixth. The 37-year-old finished with 80 pitches (55 strikes) and induced five swings-and-misses on his way to lowering his ERA to 6.75 and picking up his first winning decision of 2023.

Following a scoreless seventh inning from Josh Winckowski, the Red Sox got that run back when Duran scored on a McGuire groundout in the top of the eighth. A half-inning later, Winckowski put up another zero to bring Boston to within three outs of a blowout win.

Taking a commanding 8-1 lead going into the latter half of the ninth, Kaleb Ort came on and immediately gave up a leadoff home run to Gunnar Henderson. Ramon Urias and Terrin Vavra then reached on a pair of singles before Enmanuel Valdez committed a missed catch error that should have gone for the second out of the inning.

Instead, the bases were now loaded for Cedric Mullins, who made things even more interesting by depositing a 366-feet grand slam over the left field wall to cut the defecit to two runs at 8-6. That sequence of events forced Red Sox manager Alex Cora to turn to closer Kenley Jansen, who sat down the only two batters he faced to secure the win and notch the 39th save of his career.

All told, Tuesday’s victory took two hours and 44 minutes to complete. Yoshida stayed hot by going 2 for 4 with a walk and run scored. Duran, meanwhile finished a triple shy of the cycle, by going 3 for 4 with three runs and four RBIs.

Arroyo leaves with hamstring injury

Starting second baseman Christian Arroyo was removed from the game in the middle of the fifth inning due to precautionary reasons related to right hamstring tightness. He was replaced by Enmanuel Valdez, who was recalled from Triple-A Worcester earlier Tuesday afternoon and singled in his lone plate appearance.

Arroyo has been dealing with a nagging right hamstring in recent weeks, and so the Red Sox likely wanted to get the 27-year-old off his feet at a point in time where the game felt rather one-sided. He is considered day-to-day and could be back in the lineup on Wednesday.

Next up: Houck vs. Wells in rubber match

The Red Sox will go for their fourth straight series win in Wednesday’s finale against the Orioles. Tanner Houck, fresh off a career-high seven innings of work in his last time out, will get the start for Boston. Baltimore will counter with fellow righty Tyler Wells.

First pitch from Oriole Park at Camden Yards is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. eastern time on NESN.

(Picture of Jarren Duran: Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Red Sox place Yu Chang on 10-day injured list with left hamate fracture, recall Enmanuel Valdez from Triple-A Worcester

The Red Sox have placed infielder Yu Chang on the 10-day injured list due to a left hamate fracture, the club announced earlier Tuesday afternoon. In a corresponding move, infielder/outfielder Enmanuel Valdez was recalled from Triple-A Worcester.

Chang suffered the fracture in the seventh inning of Monday’s 5-4 loss to the Orioles in Baltimore. After swinging and missing on a 1-1, 80.3 mph slider from reliever Bryan Baker, the 27-year-old could be seen wincing in pain, which prompted Red Sox manager Alex Cora and assistant athletic trainer David Herrera to emerge from the visitor’s dugout.

After a brief conference in which his left hand was examined, Chang was removed from the game and replaced by Christian Arroyo, who struck out in his place. Arroyo then took over at second base while Enrique Hernandez slid over from second to shortstop for the final two innings of the contest.

Chang was later diagnosed with “left wrist pain” and underwent further testing in Baltimore on Tuesday. Cora and Co. were hopeful that Chang had avoided injuring his hamate bone (a hook-like structure that forms part of the wrist joint) but that is indeed what happened. He will now undergo surgery on Thursday and will be sidelined for approximately six weeks.

Signed to a one-year, $850,000 deal in February, Chang was brought in to serve as a reserve outfielder on account of his versatility. After Adam Duvall fractured his left wrist on April 9, though, Chang has seen his playing time at shortstop increase as a result of Hernandez logging more innings in center field. Coming into play on Tuesday, Chang had started five straight and 10 of the last 12 games at shortstop for Boston.

Listed at 6-foo-1 and 180 pounds, Chang has been worth three outs above average across 91 innings at shortstop, 18 innings at second base, and two innings at third base. That currently ranks in the 93rd percentile of all big-leaguers, per Baseball Savant.

On the other side of the ball, the right-handed hitting Chang has batted .136/.174/.341 with three home runs, eight RBIs, five runs scored, one stolen base, one walk, and 12 strikeouts in 17 games (47 plate appearances) so far this season. All three of those homers have come within the last 10 days.

Valdez, meanwhile, made his major-league debut at Fenway Park last Wednesday. The 24-year-old went 2-for-4 with a pair of opposite-field singles and a strikeout in a 10-4 loss to the Twins. He also committed a fielding error at second base and spent just one day on the active roster while Chang was out on paternity leave.

Acquired from the Astros alongside outfield prospect Wilyer Abreu in last Augusts’s Christian Vazquez trade, Valdez — a Dominican Republic native — is currently regarded by Baseball America as the No. 19 prospect in the Red Sox’ farm system. The left-handed hitter is not in Tuesday’s starting lineup.

(Picture of Yu Chang: Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

Former Red Sox relief prospect Durbin Feltman signs minor-league deal with Athletics

Former Red Sox relief prospect Durbin Feltman has signed a minor-league contract with the Oakland Athletics, per the club’s MLB.com transactions log.

Feltman made his organizational debut for the A’s on Tuesday after being assigned to the Double-A Midland RockHounds. The right-hander allowed one run on one hit, two walks, and two walks in the seventh inning of of a 15-14 walk-off win over the Corpus Christi Hooks.

Feltman became a free agent earlier this month after somewhat surprisingly being released from the Red Sox’ Triple-A roster. The 26-year-old opened the season in Worcester’s bullpen but was the victim of a roster crunch. More specifically, two players (Taylor Broadway outfielder Wilyer Abreu) were set to be activated from the injured list and Kutter Crawford had just been optioned, so the WooSox needed to create an opening and did so by parting ways with Feltman.

“It’s the crappy part of the business of the game, especially early in the season,” WooSox manager Chad Tracy told MassLive.com’s Katie Morrison-O’Day on April 11. “But you come out of spring and the big-league club’s still trying to get healthy and you see on the horizon a lot of guys that are going to get healthy quick.

“I know he went through some tough times last year,” Tracy said of Feltman. “I told him today he kept his head up. He always was here, always working, always trying to get better. We love him, we wish him well and hope he lands on his feet. I think he will.”

It turns out that Tracy was right, but it is still disappointing to see Feltman’s tenure with the Red Sox organization come to an official end. After dominating in his final season at TCU, Feltman was selected by Boston with the 100th overall pick in the 2018 amateur draft. He signed with the club for $559,600 and entered the professional ranks with plenty of hype surrounding him.

At the time he was drafted, some believed that Feltman could be fast-tracked to the major-leagues and contribute out of the Red Sox bullpen within months of going pro. It did not pan out that way, though, as the righty struggled to find success on a consistent basis and was never able to make it past the Triple-A level.

After being named the Red Sox’ Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year in 2021, Feltman spent the entirety of the 2022 campaign with in Worcester. There, he posted a 7.63 ERA and 5.97 FIP with 56 strikeouts to 24 walks over 40 appearances (48 1/3 innings). As previously mentioned, Feltman returned to the WooSox for the start of the 2023 season but appeared in just two games for the affiliate before getting released.

All things considered, Feltman peaked as the No. 9 prospect in Boston’s farm system in April 2019, according to SoxProspects.com’s rankings history. His decline since then can be attributed to the velocity of his fastball, which topped out at 99 mph in college but sat between just 90-92 mph last year.

Now that he has found a new home, it should be interesting to see if Feltman can resurrect his career and maybe even break in with the rebuilding Athletics at the big-league level. His new pitching coach in Midland is Chris Smith, who, like Feltman, was drafted by the Red Sox.

Regardless of where he goes from here, though, Feltman becomes the latest member of Boston’s 2018 draft class to leave the organization in some capacity in recent months. Most notably, fifth-rounder Thaddeus Ward was taken by the Nationals in last December’s Rule 5 Draft. Additionally, fourth-rounder Kole Cottam was granted his release last month so that he could sign with the Frederick Baseball Club of the independent Atlantic League.

(Picture of Durbin Feltman: Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Red Sox outfield prospect hits first home run of season for Low-A Salem

Red Sox outfield prospect Miguel Bleis hit his first home run of the season for Low-A Salem on Tuesday afternoon.

It came in the eighth inning of Salem’s 5-0 road win over Delmarva at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium. With no outs and nobody on, Bleis led off the top half of the frame by taking Shorebirds reliever Edgar Portes deep to left field for his first big fly of the year.

That was Bleis’ lone hit of the day, as Salem’s starting designated hitter went 1-for-4 with one walk and two strikeouts. Following Tuesday’s performance, the right-handed hitting Bleis is now batting .277/.324/.385 with two doubles, one triple, the one homer, eight RBIs, 13 runs scored, four walks, and 20 strikeouts in 15 games (71 plate appearances) with the Red Sox. He is also 5-for-5 on stolen base attempts.

On the other side of the ball, Tuesday marked Bleis’ fourth start of the year at designated hitter. The 6-foot, 170-pounder has also logged 44 innings in center and 52 innings in right field for Salem. He has yet to commit an error at either position and has registered two outfield assists (both in center) thus far.

Bleis, 19, is currently regarded by Baseball America as the No. 5 prospect in Boston’s farm system and the No. 81 prospect in all of baseball. The Dominican Republic native originally signed with the Red Sox for $1.5 million as an international free agent coming out of San Pedro de Macoris in January 2021.

With only 91 games of pro ball (and just 15 for a full-season affiliate) under his belt, Bleis has already been tabbed by publications such as MLB Pipeline as the top international prospect Boston has had since Rafael Devers. SoxProspects, on the other hand, identifies Bleis as having “the highest upside of any Latin American prospect in the system.”

Considering the fact that he only turned 19 in March, the Red Sox will likely exhibit patience when it comes to Bleis’ development path. In other words, it would not be all that surprising if Bleis spent the entirety of the 2023 campaign with Salem as opposed to him making the jump to High-A Greenville at some point this summer.

Rogers impresses in latest start

Dalton Rogers made his third start of the season for Salem on Tuesday. The 22-year-old left-hander allowed just one hit and two walks to go along with eight strikeouts over five scoreless innings of work. Of the 90 pitches he threw, 54 went for strikes.

Though he did not factor into Tuesday’s decision, Rogers did lower his ERA on the year down to 2.79 across 9 2/3 innings pitched. The Southern Mississippi product was selected by the Red Sox with the 99th overall pick in last year’s amateur draft. He signed with the club for $447,500 and is currently ranked by SoxProspects as the No. 42 prospect in the organization.

(Picture of Miguel Bleis: Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Red Sox’ Yu Chang leaves game with left wrist injury

Red Sox infielder Yu Chang was forced to exit Monday’s 5-4 loss to the Orioles in the seventh inning with a left wrist injury.

With two outs in the top of the seventh, Chang swung and missed at a 1-1, 80.3 mph slider from Orioles reliever Bryan Baker. Upon completion of his swing, the 27-year-old was clearly wincing in pain, which prompted manager Alex Cora and assistant athletic trainer David Herrera to pay him a visit from the visitor’s dugout.

After a brief conference, Chang was removed from the game and was replaced by Christian Arroyo, who struck out in his place. Arroyo then took over defensively at second base while Enrique Hernandez slid over from second to shortstop for the final two innings.

Chang was later diagnosed with what the Red Sox described as “left wrist pain” and will undergo further testing in Baltimore on Tuesday to determine the severity of the injury. There is some preliminary concern that Chang may have injured his hamate bone, a hook-like structure that forms part of the wrist joint.

“He’s in pain. He’s going to get tested tomorrow,” Cora told reporters (including MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo) at Camden Yards. We’ll see where we’re at. Right now, it’s sore. That’s all we can say right now.”

According to Cotillo, who was in the clubhouse after the game, Chang could be seen expressing concern about the potential severity of his injury to a teammate. To that end, it seems likely that Chang will be placed on the injured list and an infielder will be called up from Triple-A Worcester on Tuesday.

Two prime candidates to fill in for Chang are prospects Enmanuel Valdez, who made his major-league debut last week while Chang was out on paternity leave, and the speedy David Hamilton, who currently owns a .997 OPS in his first 17 games with the WooSox this season. Both Valdez and Hamilton are already on Boston’s 40-man roster.

As noted by Cotillo, any serious injury to Chang would further shake up Boston’s middle infield depth since Trevor Story (elbow surgery) and Adalberto Mondesi (ACL rehab) are already on the 60-day injured list. Chang was brought in as a reserve infielder, but he has seen his playing time increase in recent weeks after Adam Duvall broke his left wrist and Hernandez started to log more innings in center field as a result.

Including Monday, Chang had started five straight and 10 of the last 12 games at shortstop for the Red Sox. The versatile 6-foot-1, 180-pounder has provided the club with some surehanded defense across the infield, but he has also showed some signs of life at the plate by making hard contact and homering three times in his last eight games.

(Picture of Yu Chang: Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

Chris Sale fails to record strikeout as Red Sox blow four-run lead and fall to Orioles, 5-4, in series opener

The Red Sox blew a four-run lead in a series-opening loss to the Orioles on Monday night. Boston fell to Baltimore by a final score of 5-4 at Camden Yards to drop back to .500 at 12-12 on the season.

Matched up against Orioles starter Dean Kremer out of the gate, the Sox opened the scoring in the top of the second inning. With two outs and nobody on, Triston Casas took Kremer 426 feet deep to right-center field for his third home run of the year.

An inning later, Connor Wong drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second base on a Yu Chang groundout, and scored from second on a one-out RBI single off the bat of Alex Verdugo. Rafael Devers then doubled Boston’s lead by crushing a 387-foot two-run home run onto Eutaw Street.

Devers’ American League-leading ninth homer of the season left his bat at a blistering 115 mph and put the Red Sox up, 4-0, going into the middle of the third. To that point in the contest, Chris Sale had faced the minimum through his first two innings of work before running into some legitimate trouble.

Cedric Mullins, who was at the plate when Ramon Urias recorded the final out of the second by getting thrown out by Wong on a failed stolen base attempt, led off the bottom of the third with a line-drive double. After Jorge Mateo lined out, Adam Frazier plated the speedy Mullins on an RBI single for the Orioles’ first run of the night.

Sale escaped any further damage in the third by getting Austin Hays to ground into an inning-ending, 6-4-3 double play. But the O’s really got to the left-hander in their half of the fourth. Following back-to-back one-out hits from Ryan Mountcastle and Anthony Santander, Urias made up for his previous blunder by driving in both runners on a ground-rule double to cut the deficit to one. James McCann knotted things up at four runs apiece with another hard-hit single to right field.

In the fifth, Sale gave up a leadoff double to Jorge Mateo, who then scored the go-ahead run on a single from Hays. Sale yielded one more base hit before getting Mountcastle to ground into yet another inning-ending double play to end his night. The 34-year-old southpaw wound up allowing five earned runs on nine hits and one walk over five innings. He failed to strike out a single batter after punching out 11 in his last start.

Of the 83 pitches Sale threw on Monday, 52 went for strikes. He managed to induce just two swings-and-misses while being charged with the loss and seeing his ERA on the season inflate to 8.22.

To lead off the sixth inning, it appeared as though the Red Sox were ready to respond as Justin Turner reached on a line-drive single. A red-hot Masataka Yoshida followed with a single of his own, but Turner was thrown out at third base after unsuccessfully attempting to go from first to third. Yoshida moved into scoring position on the play, but he was stranded there after both Enrique Hernandez and Casas were retired.

Following a scoreless bottom of the sixth from Ryan Brasier, Wong drew a one-out walk off Baltimore reliever Bryan Baker, but he was thrown out at second in an otherwise quiet offensive inning for Boston. Newcomer Brennan Bernardino then took over out of the bullpen and scattered four hits across two shutout frames.

That sequence of events brought the Red Sox down to their final three outs in the top of the ninth. After Yoshida drew a leadoff walk, pinch-runner Raimel Tapia was able to move up to second base on a balk. Orioles reliever Yennier Cano then stranded the potential tying run at second by striking out both Hernandez and Casas before getting Jarren Duran to line out to end it.

All told, Monday’s loss took two hours and 29 minutes to complete. Yoshida accounted for three of Boston’s seven hits and reached base in all four of his plate appearances.

Chang leaves game with wrist injury

While batting with one out in the seventh inning, Yu Chang swung and missed on a 1-1, 83 mph slider from Bryan Baker and left the game with what the Red Sox later described as “left wrist pain.” Christian Arroyo took over for Chang mid-at-bat and struck out.

Fatse, Cora ejected

Red Sox hitting coach Pete Fatse was ejected by home plate umpire Junior Valentine in the top of the sixth inning for arguing balls and strikes. Manager Alex Cora was also ejected by third base umpire Quinn Wolcott at the end of the game, per The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier.

Next up: Kluber vs. Bradish

The Red Sox will turn to Corey Kluber, who is in desperate need of a strong start, in the middle game of this three-game series on Tuesday. The Orioles will counter with fellow righty Kyle Bradish.

First pitch from Oriole Park at Camden Yards is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. eastern time on NESN.

(Picture of Chris Sale: Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

Red Sox option Brayan Bello to Triple-A Worcester, call up Brennan Bernardino

The Red Sox have optioned right-hander Brayan Bello to Triple-A Worcester, the club announced prior to Monday’s series opener against the Orioles in Baltimore.

To take Bello’s spot on the active roster, left-hander Brennan Bernardino was recalled from Worcester.

Despite being optioned, Bello is still with the Red Sox in Baltimore, according to MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo. The 23-year-old appears to be the odd man out for now as Boston makes the transition from a six-man to a five-man starting rotation moving forward.

Bello, who began the season on the injured list after being slowed by right forearm tightness in spring training, did not make his 2023 debut until last Monday. In his first two starts of the year for Boston, the Dominican-born hurler has posted a 9.82 ERA and 6.33 FIP with eight strikeouts to three walks in 7 1/3 innings of work. He allowed three runs on five hits, two walks, and three strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings against the Brewers on Sunday.

Because he has been sent down, Bello will need to spend the next 15 days in the minor-leagues unless he replaces an injured player or serves as the 27th man in a doubleheader. In the meantime, Chris Sale, Corey Kluber, Tanner Houck, Nick Pivetta, and Garrett Whitlock will remain in Boston’s rotation.

Bernardino, meanwhile, was claimed off waivers from the Mariners on April 16 after fellow reliever Zack Kelly (right elbow inflammation) was transferred to the 60-day injured list. The 31-year-old southpaw has just two games of prior major-league experience, both of which came with Seattle last summer.

In those two outings, Bernardino yielded three runs (one earned) on three hits, two walks, and no strikeouts across 2 1/3 innings in which he threw 26 sinkers and 15 curveballs. The 6-foot-4, 180-pounder made one appearance for the WooSox on Friday and struck out two over two scoreless frames of relief against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

While he is up, Bernardino should provide the Red Sox with some much needed left-handed bullpen depth. With Joely Rodriguez (right oblique strain) still on the 15-day injured list, Richard Bleier had been the lone lefty reliever available to manager Alex Cora going back to Opening Day.

Bernardino will wear the No. 83 for the Red Sox, becoming just the third player in franchise history to do so and the first since Eduard Bazardo wore it in parts of two seasons (2021-2022) with the club.

(Picture of Brayan Bello: Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

Masataka Yoshida homers twice in 9-run eighth inning as Red Sox take series from Brewers with 12-5 win

The Red Sox rode a nine-run eighth inning to a series-clinching victory over the Brewers on Sunday afternoon. Boston capped off the first leg of its road trip by defeating Milwaukee by a final score of 12-5 at American Family Field to get back over .500 at 12-11 on the season.

With Corbin Burnes starting for the Brewers, the Sox drew first blood in their half of the first inning. Alex Verdugo led off with a single and went from first to third on a Justin Turner base hit that was aided by a Bryce Perkins fielding error in right field. Masataka Yoshida then got his productive day at the plate started by driving in Verdugo on a sacrifice fly.

An inning later, Triston Casas drew a leadoff walk off Burnes and Jarren Duran followed with a single. A successful bunt single from Connor Wong then filled the bases with one out for Verdugo, who worked a six-pitch walk to bring in casas. With the bases re-loaded, Rafael Devers made it a 3-0 game by plating Duran on a sacrifice fly to right field.

Brayan Bello, meanwhile, was making his second start of the season for Boston. The young right-hander made relatively quick work of Milwaukee through the first three innings of Sunday’s contest before running into some trouble in the fourth.

After punching out Rowdy Tellez, Bello served up an opposite field home run to Brian Anderson to get the Brewers on the board. In the fifth, Joey Wiemer led off with a double and moved up to third on a sacrifice bunt before cutting the deficit to one by scoring on a Christian Yelich RBI single. Yelich then went from first to third before coming into score on a game-tying sacrifice fly from Willy Adames.

Adames was the last batter Bello faced. The 23-year-old hurler finished with 82 pitches (52 strikes) and induced 12 swings-and-misses in the process of lowering his ERA on the season to 9.82. Richard Bleier received the first call out of the Red Sox bullpen in relief of Bello. The lefty fanned Tellez to end things in the fifth and then worked his way around a leadoff walk in a scoreless sixth inning.

Kaleb Ort took over for Bleier in the seventh and had a difficult time finding the strike zone. The hard-throwing righty put runners on the corners with one out on a pair of walks and a sacrifice bunt. He then spiked a wild pitch while Jesse Winker was up to bat. As a result, Wiemer came in to score the go-ahead run, thus giving the Brewers their first lead of the day at 4-3.

Despite only throwing 10 of his 26 pitches for strikes, Ort avoided any further damage in the seventh by retiring Adames and Tellez. The Red Sox, in turn, wasted no time in re-taking the lead in their half of the eighth as reliever Matt Bush entered the game for the Brewers.

Turner greeted Bush by crushing a game-tying, 388-foot solo shot to left field on the second pitch he saw. Moments later, Yoshida went back-to-back with Turner by clubbing a go-ahead home run 374 feet into the right field seats. An Enrique Hernandez double and one-out walk from Duran knocked Bush out of the game and brought Javy Guerra in.

Duran promptly stole second base before both he and Hernandez scored on a 104.4 mph two-run single from Wong. Following a Yu Chang single and intentional walk of Devers, Turner took ball four with the bases loaded to bring Yoshida to the plate yet again.

Yoshida took full advantage of the opportunity by going deep for the second time in the same inning. The left-handed hitter unloaded on an 0-2, 84.5 mph slider on the inner half of the plate from Guerra and deposited it 407 feet into the second deck in right field for his first career grand slam. Yoshida’s second big fly of the eighth (and third of the season) capped off a nine-run frame and put Boston up, 12-4.

From there, John Schreiber served up another home run to Anderson in the bottom of the eighth before Ryan Brasier retired the side in order in the ninth to end it. With the win, the Red Sox have now won three series in a row and are 7-3 in their last 10 games.

Yoshida makes some history

Masataka Yoshida became the first Red Sox player to homer twice in the same inning since David Ortiz did it in August 2008. Prior to Ortiz, only three players in team history (Nomar Garciaparra in 2002, Ellis Burks in 1990, and Bill Regan in 1928) had accomplished the feat, according to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier.

All told, Yoshida went 2-for-4 with the two home runs, six RBIs, and two runs scored on Sunday.

Next up: Sale vs. Kremer

The Red Sox will open a three-game series against the 14-7 Orioles in Baltimore on Monday night. Left-hander Chris Sale will get the ball for Boston in the opener opposite right-hander Dean Kremer.

First pitch from Orioles Park at Camden Yards is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. eastern time on NESN and MLB Network.

(Picture of Masataka Yoshida: Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

Red Sox catcher Reese McGuire avoids serious injury after X-rays on right hand come back negative

Red Sox catcher Reese McGuire appears to have avoided a serious injury scare after taking a hard-hit foul tip off the top of his throwing hand in the late stages of Saturday night’s 5-4 loss to the Brewers at American Family Field.

McGuire had X-rays that revealed no broken bones in his right hand, which was struck by a Willy Adames foul tip in the bottom of the eighth inning. The 28-year-old remained in the game and even hit in the top of the ninth. That, in part, was due to the fact that McGuire had already pinch-hit for Connor Wong in the seventh, meaning the Red Sox had no other available catchers to come off the bench.

McGuire, who flew out to end the game, expressed optimism that he would not need to miss any time with the injury when speaking with reporters (including MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo) on Saturday night.

“It’s a little swollen, a little bruised,” McGuire said. “But I just got some X-rays and all is negative. That’s really good news. I had a smile on my face because it was kind of throbbing. I’m going to go get ice right after this and be ready for tomorrow.”

After McGuire was hit by Adames’ foul tip, Red Sox manager Alex Cora and a member of the team’s training staff went out to check on him. Athletic tape was applied to McGuire’s hand, but the backstop quickly removed it after some of his practice throws to reliever Kutter Crawford were off the mark.

With no true emergency catcher on the roster according to Cora, McGuire toughed it out and caught the rest of the inning. As noted by Cotillo, first baseman Triston Casas — who did not play on Saturday — was the only other player left on Boston’s bench.

“He didn’t fight it,” Cora said of McGuire. “He was like, ‘(expletive) it, let’s go, we’ve got to go.’ It’s not perfect but this is the nature of everybody’s roster. There’s certain games you have to be aggressive to hit for them.”

Though the ball caught McGuire in a familiar spot for foul tips, McGuire acknowledged that the pain lingered more it usually does.

“As a catcher, you’re kind of used to getting baseballs all over,” he said. “I got some on the forearm the other night. It’s one of those things you shake off at first but that one kind of stung. When I looked down, it was starting to swell up a little bit. Life of a catcher right there.”

McGuire and Wong, who have started nine and 13 games behind the plate, respectively, are currently the only two catchers on Boston’s 40-man roster. The Red Sox do have a plethora of catching depth (Jorge Alfaro, Caleb Hamilton, and Ronaldo Hernandez) at Triple-A Worcester, but they would need to clear a 40-man spot in order to add either of them to the active roster.

(Picture of Reese McGuire: Larry Radloff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)