NEW YORK — Max Fried carved up the Red Sox for six shutout innings.
Fortunately, Boston had its own ace to play.
Brayan Bello outlasted his Yankee counterpart and shut out the Yankees for seven innings. He yielded three hits, walked one and struck out five on 92 pitches (61 strikes), paving the way for a stunning 1-0 Red Sox win that pushed Boston back to second in the AL East and into the first AL Wild Card spot.
As Bello sat the Yankees down 1-2-3 seventh to end his night, it was easy to imagine his mentor, Pedro Martinez, watching somewhere and taunting jubilantly, “Who’s your daddy?”
Bello’s impressive season has been somewhat overshadowed by rotation-mate Garrett Crochet, who’s a frontrunner for AL Cy Young. Yet with his latest gem, Bello lowered his season ERA to 3.07.
Nor was this anything new for Bello, who entered the contest with a 2.21 ERA over nine career starts against the Yankees. He’s the first Red Sox pitcher to go seven scoreless innings with no more than three hits since his own outing on June 15, and the first to do so at Yankee Stadium since Chris Sale in 2018.
Boston Red Sox’s Connor Wong, left, reacts next to New York Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. after hitting a double, leading Nathaniel Lowe to score, during the seventh inning of a game Friday. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Friday’s outing took Bello’s ownership of the Yankees to new heights. He’s the first pitcher in franchise history to make consecutive scoreless starts against them of at least seven innings with no more than three hits allowed, and his ERA against them is down to 1.95, the best mark by any major league pitcher with at least 10 starts against the New York ball club since the Live Ball Era began in 1921.
Zoo York
Both teams had traffic throughout the game, though only Alex Bregman, Connor Wong and pinch-hitter Nathaniel Lowe collected a hit for Boston. Going 3 for 4, Bregman had back-to-back three-hit games for the sixth time in his career, and first time since May 2021.
The most entertaining on-field action came in the form of a furry interloper, though. As Jhostynxon Garcia, who was making his MLB debut, adjusted his batting gloves in the top of the fourth, a squirrel ran onto the field and directly into the back of his foot. The squirrel then raced out to the mound to inspect Fried. He approached first baseman Ben Rice, and was later seen nibbling a peanut shell on the field, and hanging out inside the scoreboard in right field.
Immediate impact
The scoreless stalemate was broken by Lowe. The newcomer continues to change games for the Red Sox. On Friday night, it was with a pinch-hit first-pitch double off Mark Leiter Jr., which opened the door for Wong to break the tie with an RBI double to the left field corner in the top of the seventh.
What a relief
Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman pitched a scoreless inning apiece to close out the win.
It’s the 11th time the Red Sox have bested their rivals 1-0 in enemy territory. The last time was July 28, 1994, five years before Bello was born.
Facts and figures
The Red Sox are 70-59.
They’re 47-19, when they score first and 22-15 against the American League East, including 7-1 against the Yankees.
Originally Published: August 22, 2025 at 9:33 PM EDT