Brayan Bello and Red Sox aim to beat Dodgers

Boston Red Sox right-handed pitcher Brayan Bello will look to put together an impressive first half when he takes the mound against the home team Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday.

Bello (10-5, 5.32 ERA) was one of five American League pitchers with double-digit wins before the break and comes in after winning all three of his previous starts in July. He surrendered three runs in 6 1/3 innings in a 5-4 win over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday, a start after he struck out a season-record 11 batters against the Oakland Athletics.

While Bello’s strikeouts per nine innings have increased to 8.5 this season, he still lags behind last season’s numbers in ERA, WHIP (1.472) and hits per nine innings (9.9).

Bello will face the Dodgers for the first time in his career, a team that struggled at halftime.

Boston right-hander Nick Pivetta kept Los Angeles off balance again on Friday, allowing two hits in six scoreless innings. But Los Angeles came alive in the eighth inning when Freddie Freeman hit a grand slam off left-hander Brennan Bernardino in a 4-1 victory.

Freeman’s blast prevented Red Sox right-hander Kenley Jansen from pitching in the final innings against his former team. The loss also came after Boston had won 10 of 13 games before the break.

“We all fight for each other,” Jansen said, according to the Boston Globe, as he made 19 saves in 32 appearances this season. “We’re all family, and I consider these guys my family right now because I see them more than my own family, and we need to be united and be together.”

Boston’s lone run Friday came on a solo shot by Jarren Duran, who earned All-Star Game MVP honors in the American League’s 5-3 win three days after his go-ahead homer. But the Red Sox went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position, including 0-for-8 in those situations through the first four innings.

The Dodgers will respond with left-handed rookie Justin Wrobleski (0-1, 6.30), who will make his third career start in an injury-plagued rotation.

In a start last week against the Detroit Tigers, Wrobleski gave up four runs (three earned) in five innings of a no-decision. He was on the verge of his first career victory when the bullpen collapsed, giving up five runs in the ninth inning. The Tigers won the game an inning later.

On Friday, it was Los Angeles’ turn to deliver something heartbreaking. The Dodgers’ eighth-inning rally began when Miguel Vargas walked. Shohei Ohtani doubled before Will Smith was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out. Freeman made Boston pay for the decision.

“I was excited,” Freeman said on the SportsNet LA broadcast when asked about the opportunity he got with the bases loaded in the eighth. “You kind of live for situations like that. You want to be ahead in situations like that. I tried to hit a fly ball and I ended up hitting a fly ball over the fence.”

It was a much-needed decisive goal for the Dodgers, who had lost six of seven games before halftime, including two straight first-half losses to the Tigers.

–Field Level Media