Brayan Bello, Red Sox absorb a smackdown in shutout loss to Cubs
Meanwhile, the Cubs went on a home-run barrage, hitting them back-to-back in the first inning from Michael Busch and Kyle Tucker, and two more in the eighth from Pete Crow-Armstrong and Ian Happ.
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In between came a shot from Matt Shaw, a second career pinch-hit homer for the Massachusetts native. All three late home runs were solo blasts off reliever Chris Smith, and for Shaw, a Springfield native who grew up in Brimfield and played his college ball at Maryland, it kept him from falling below the Mendoza Line (he was batting .200 going into the game). Shaw practically sprinted around the bases.
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The Sox had no such pep in their step. After surging into the playoff conversation with the 10 straight victories prior to the All-Star break, they knew a test was coming.
Unlike the likes of the Rockies or Rays they'd beaten before, the Cubs represented the first of three straight series against division-leading National League teams, with the Phillies and Dodgers looming.
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So far, the Sox have been unable to carry the momentum of their pre-All Star success across the break, hoping now to avoid a sweep in Sunday's series finale.
The sluggish start was reminiscent of Friday's series-opening loss, with missed opportunities, mistake pitches and leadoff walks once again putting the Red Sox in an early hole.
Saturday's pitching culprit was Brayan Bello, who surrendered back-to-back solo home runs to Michael Busch and Kyle Tucker to open the game.
Busch sent the game's first pitch into the left-centerfield seats and four pitches later, Tucker sent a no-doubter into the rightfield seats.
Bello rebounded to retire Seiya Suzuki (fly ball), Pete Crow-Armstrong (strikeout) and Ian Happ (grounder to first) to get out of the inning, but he gave up another run in the second when the dreaded leadoff walk to Dansby Swanson came around to score.
Swanson, who advanced on a Nico Hoerner single and a Reese McGuire fielder's choice, made a nice head-first slide on Vidal Brujan's short fly ball to left field, evading a tag attempt by Connor Wong when Rob Refsnyder's throw pulled the catcher too far outside the baseline.
Refsnyder, leading off against Imanaga, opened the game with a sharp double in the left-centerfield gap, advancing to third on Alex Bregman's ground ball to first. But back-to-back strikeouts by Romy Gonzalez and Roman Anthony stranded him there.
Cora was back at his lineup juggling job for Saturday night's game, using Refsnyder in left field and fellow lefty-facing specialist Romy Gonzalez at second base while keeping the rookie Anthony in against the lefthander (as he plans to do going forward), batting cleanup and playing right field.
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He then inserted Masataka Yoshida at DH, leaving Jarren Duran on the bench. Cora praised the reaction he got from Duran after texting him of the plan Friday night, which said, 'I'm fine, let me know when and we'll go.'
Yoshida had two hits against his Japanese countryman Imanaga, including a two-out single to right in the second inning. Abraham Toro followed with another single, but that mini-rally fizzled out when the struggling Wong struck out.
Still, Cora was glad to get Yoshida in the game after feeling he had jumped the gun using him as a pinch-hitter Friday in a no-stakes situation.
'I need to be probably more patient with that one,' Cora said, 'just wait till the opportunity comes later on with men on and using that spot. But I just felt like okay, he gets on base, we got something going. It just didn't work out, and it didn't feel right from my end.
'But I think it's going to be a big contributor for us. And as far as the [outfield] rotation, you know, they play two out of three most of the time. And we'll make sure everybody gets a rest and keep them engaged. Is it easy? No, it's not easy, but we'll make it work. They're willing to do it.'
Tara Sullivan is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at
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