BOSTON — Instant reactions from the Red Sox’ 7-5 victory over the Miami Marlins at Fenway Saturday:
1) Trevor Story keeps piling up the RBI. His three-run homer in the third was the big blow in the Red Sox’ 7-5 demolition of the Miami Marlins, giving the Red Sox the series with a game still to go. Story, who added an infield single in his first trip, now has a team-leading 79 RBI and has a shot at the second 100 RBI season of his career. Saturday also marked the 13th time he had knocked in three or more RBI in a single game this season. That total is eclipsed only by Seattle’s Eugenio Suarez, who has 14 such games this season.
2) Like Lucas Giolito the night before, Brayan Bello quickly demonstrated that one bad start doesn’t necessarily have to mean the start of a long downward trend. Bello didn’t pitch particularly well last Sunday in San Diego (five runs in 5.2 innings), but as Giolito did Friday night, bounced back with a far better effort, allowing two runs over 6.1 innings. Bello faced the minimum number of hitters in three of the first four innings, getting his teammates quickly back in the dugout. Both runs off him were solo homers.
3) It’s apparent that some of Jarren Duran has rubbed off on Roman Anthony. Duran has made a habit out of “hustle doubles,” whereby he sprints out of the box on any ball hit into the outfield with the intention of stretching singles into doubles. Anthony made a wide turn on a hard single to right to lead off the first, and when he lined a ball into the right-center gap in the third, he didn’t stop, sliding in safely into second for his 17th two-bagger.
4) In the first inning, Story successfully swiped second base, making him 22-for-22 in stolen base attempts since the start of the season, a club record. Story’s next aim will be matching the post-expansion era AL record of 30, set by Carl Crawford in 2009. Also, with 19 homers and 22 steals, Story is a homer away from becoming the 11th player in franchise history to hit 20 homers and steal 20 bases in the same season. Duran did it last year.
5) The Red Sox’ home dominance shows no sign of abating. Saturday’s win upped their record to 16-2 over the last 18 games at Fenway and 18-3 in their last 21, dating back to June 30. Only the Toronto Blue Jays, who improved to 42-20 Saturday with a lopsided win over Texas, have a better home record in the American League.
6) Bello, who lowered his ERA to 3.23, continues to flourish despite not getting a lot of swing-and-miss. He didn’t record a strikeout until the fifth inning and finished his afternoon with just two strikeouts. That can sometimes be a tough way to live in the modern game, where so much centers around swing-and-miss for pitchers, but Bello has figured out to win without it.
7) Anthony continues to be an on-base machine. In his first four plate appearances Saturday, he singled, doubled and drew a walk in addition to an infield groundout. In 55 career games, Anthony has reached base 94 times. Since the 2000 season, the only two American League players to get on base more than that in their first 55 game are Ichiro Suzuki (104 times in 2001) and Yordan Alvarez (100 times in 2019).
8) The Sox continue to struggle late in games with big leads. Saturday, they gave an inning of work to Isaiah Campbell with a five-run lead in the top of the ninth. But Campbell gave up three runs on four hits, necessitating that the Sox bring in closer Aroldis Chapman for the final out of the game. In the end, the additional work for Chapman could be an issue for their lefty reliever. It shouldn’t be that hard to find someone to get three outs with multi-run leads.
9) The Red Sox will go for the sweep of the Marlins Sunday at 1:35 p.m. Garrett Crochet (13-5, 2.48) will be looking to recover from a rare poor outing in his last start in Houston. The Marlins will counter with RHP Janson Junk (6-2, 4.06).
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