D-Backs 12, Red Sox 2: Boston is Outclassed By Sneaky Strong Snakes

The snake will always bite back!

For most of this summer, the Red Sox have been involved in very tight, entertaining ballgames. Tonight was not one of those nights.

Instead, the snakes jumped on Brayan Bello early and then got to him again in the sixth inning before blowing things wide open in the seventh. The depth of Arizona’s lineup was on full display as eight of their nine starters recorded at least one hit, and seven of their nine starters knocked in at least one run.

Add it all up and Arizona is sending a clear and defining message: They’re a threat to go back to the World Series again. What they lack in star power, they make up for in a well rounded roster, and that tends to win baseball games this time of the year.

This ends up being a particularly bad matchup for the Red Sox because they thrive on surviving and getting the game to the point where they can expose the other team’s weakness through favorable matchups, and if you don’t get to Arizona’s starters, they don’t have many.

The Sox did have a couple of opportunities early on, but they blew any chance at big innings. In the first, Duran led off with a double, and Abreu follow it with a double of his own (seen here)

Unfortunately, the rest of the offense couldn’t get him home.

Then in the third inning, they had the bases loaded, but Rob Refsnyder struck out swinging.

Once they couldn’t cash in there, it was all Arizona. Eventually things spiraled completely out of control with Eugenio Suarez hitting this grand slam off Josh Winckowski.

Perhaps if the Sox got four or five runs out of those first few innings, it’s an entirely different ballgame, but alas, there’s no way to know what’s down that rabbit hole.

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The biggest pure Red Sox related story from this one is Brayan Bello not being able to make any success stick. After showing solid stuff his last few times out, he failed to open up this game dialed in; and while he did temporarily settle down for four straight innings in the second through the fifth, he ended his night in the sixth after allowing four striaght batters to reach.

He did at least wait until the sixth inning to totally lose his lunch in this one, but it’s just another example of him not being able to get an outing to the finish line, which in his case is to the bullpen with a reasonable chance to win the game. Still plenty of growing to do for Bello!

If you’re looking for some good news after that beatdown, here you go: Each of the other two times the Red Sox lost by ten or more runs this year, they came back and won their next game.

Three Studs

Wilyer Abreu: 2-3, including that first inning double that gave the team a good chance to tie the game after Bello gave up two in the top of the first.

Triston Casas: 2-4, and it honestly could have easily been 3-4 as he hit the ball well the other way in that first inning, but it was caught.

Ceddanne Rafaela: For making the most fun play of the night:

Three Duds

Brayan Bello: He just did not give the team the start they needed in a critical late season game. If he wants to be a top of the rotation pitcher, he has to figure it out and settle down on nights like tonight.

The bottom half of the lineup: The six through nine hitters combined to go 0-13.

Josh Winckowski: When you give up six runs and a grand slam, you end up here.