Rays Stay Hot, Spoil MLB Debut for Red Sox Phenom Brayan Bello in 7-1 Win

Tampa Bay got six scoreless innings from veteran pitcher Corey Kluber and roughed up Boston phenom Brayan Bello in his major-league debut, getting four early runs off of him in a 7-1 win, which helped the Rays win the series for their American League East rivals.

BOSTON — It was a battle of young vs. old on Wednesday at Fenway Park, with 36-year-old Corey Kluber pitching a gem for the Tampa Bay Rays while 23-year-old Brayan Bello got knocked around by Rays' hitters.

Why? Well, because that's just what the Rays do.

Tampa Bay won 7-1 in the finale of a three-game series, and they scored four of those runs early off of Bello, their top pitching prospect who's from the Dominican Republic and has drawn comparisons to Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez. It was the eighth time in club history that the Rays have faced a pitcher making his debut — and they have a startling 7-1 record in those debuts.

Bello threw 79 pitches and gave up six hits and three walks while allowing those four runs. Rays hitters stayed patient against him, not chasing pitches outside of the zone and hammering the ones that were. They got a run in the first inning and tacked on three more in the third, Bello, who took the loss, left trailing 4-0 after four.

Kluber, meanwhile, was fantastic. He pitched six scoreless innings, allowing just three hits. It was his first win since June 8, and he finally got some run support. In his three losses since then, the Rays had scored a total of three runs. 

"I felt good," said Kluber, who is now 4-5 on the season with a 3.62 ERA. "I. got some good plays behind me on defense and I thought (catcher Francisco Mejia)  did a great job calling a good game, keeping them off balance. And there were a couple of situations there when I needed to, I was able to execute some pitches."

The Rays had a run just six pitches into Bello's outing, with Yandy Diaz getting a one-out double and scoring on a first-pitch single from shortstop Wander Franco.

In the third, Diaz walked and Ji-Man Choi singled, and then they both scored on a two-out double by left-fielder Randy Arozarena. He then scored on a Kevin Kiermaier double to make it 4-0.

The Rays rallied for two more in the sixth when Josh Lowe, who batted leadoff for the first time despite his .170 batting average , doubled in a run. He scored after three straight walks to make it 6-1. Arozarena finished the scoring with a solo homer in the ninth.

It was the second-straight series road win for the Rays, both against American League East foes that they are in the middle of a serious playoff battle with. They won three straight against the Toronto Blue Jays, and then two of three against Boston after losing the openers in both series. 

The Rays passed the Blue Jays in the standings and are now tied with the Red Sox, who continue to struggle against AL East foes this season. It was their eighth straight series loss to a division foe in 2022, and they are a combined 9-18 against AL East competition. The Rays are now 4-2 vs. the Red Sox, also winning a series in April in St. Petersburg.  

The Rays, who are now 5-3 on this trip, have the day off on Thursday and will then play at Cincinnati for three games this weekend. Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen and Shane Baz will start for the Rays.

"It feels like Randy likes to hit here."

Kevin Cash talks about Randy Arozarena's night, Corey Kluber's performance, the defensive plays and more. #RaysUp @RaysBaseball pic.twitter.com/AK0MP8WHfB

— Bally Sports Sun: Rays (@BallyRays) July 7, 2022

The Red Sox are home for four games with division leader New York, and much like the Rays, it's the Yankees' first visit to Fenway Park this season. They play four straight night games, with the Saturday and Sunday matchups on national TV.

Rays manager Kevin Cash was thrilled to see Arozarena hit the ball hard all night. He had two hits, as did Lowe and Diaz, the top-two hitters in the batting order on Wednesday. The Rays scored five of their seven runs with two outs as well. showing some clutch hitting.

"(Randy) had a big night. It feels like Randy likes to hit here for whatever reason,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said of Arozarena, who was 2-for-5 with three RBIs along with some sensational plays defensively. "He's had a lot of big at-bats.''

Cash was thrilled with what Kluber did in a tough AL East environment.

"He had a lot of strikes, and he's a veteran pitcher who knows how to attack,'' Cash said. "He's done it twice against the Yankees now and once against the Red Sox. He's helped us a lot in big division games. It looked liked he was executing and doing what he wanted to and we made a lot of nice plays behind him.''

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