BOSTON -- The Red Sox opened the penultimate homestand of the season on Monday afternoon without an opener. This, even though it was Brayan Bello’s day to pitch.
After a second half of the season mostly filled with excellence in bulk relief, Bello went back to his roots, starting his first game for Boston since June 4.
Considering the precedent this season – Bello had been 1-6 with a 10.35 ERA in eight starts – it seemed like a fairly bold move by Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy.
But it turned out to be the right decision, and perhaps the right opponent in the Angels, who are 29th in the Majors in runs. Over five scoreless innings -- which included four hits, two walks, seven strikeouts and 103 pitches -- Bello helped lead the Red Sox to a 5-2 victory over the Angels at Fenway Park, stretching the team’s latest winning streak to five games.
At 80-65, the Sox are as many as 15 games over .500 for the first time this season. It was a long climb to get there, considering Tracy’s squad was 14 under (32-46) on June 24.
For Bello, this was his first win as a starter since April 12 at St. Louis and the seventh scoreless start of his career.
Here were some other takeaways from a strong start to the week.
1. Adley, meet “Pesky!”
Every time a Red Sox hitter hits a flyball down the line in right field at Fenway Park, the entire dugout yells “Pesky.” The foul pole in right is named after the late Johnny Pesky, who hit 13 homers in his time with the Red Sox, but many of them were allegedly hit near, around or off that pole.
There was no question where Rutschman’s towering, 112.1 mph missile landed on Monday afternoon. The hardest-hit ball of his career (per Statcast) hit high off the mesh that surrounds Pesky’s Pole.
2. Duran cuts, bleaches hair and belts No. 20
The struggles at the plate for Jarren Duran this season have been well-chronicled. The left fielder is still searching for answers, and on Monday it looked like he found some. In the second, Duran ripped a solo homer to right, his 20th of the season. He added a double to center in the fifth.
The pair of extra-base hits happened on the same day he dyed his hair blonde, and the day after he got it cut to a significantly lower length. Coincidence?
3. Durbin ends XBH drought
When Caleb Durbin belted his second grand slam of the season on Aug. 13 in Toronto, he was at the center of Boston’s resurgence as a team. But after that game, Durbin started to slump, perhaps feeling the fatigue of his first full season in the Majors.
Durbin got a rare day off on Saturday, and perhaps that helped refresh him. Durbin belted a single up the middle in the third and a 106.3 mph double off the base of the scoreboard in left-center in the fifth. The double was Durbin’s first extra-base hit since the Toronto grand slam, ending a drought of 90 plate appearances.