Red Sox Notes: Boston Self Reflects After Squandered Opportunity Vs. Braves

BOSTON — The Red Sox had a chance to piggyback off Saturday night’s walk-off heroics from slugger Rafael Devers, but instead, the team took another step back in Sunday afternoon’s rubber match against the Braves.

Devers followed up with an encore of his own by crushing a go-ahead grand slam in the third inning off Atlanta’s Spencer Schwellenbach. It was a moment that uplifted the team and Fenway Park’s crowd, however, it didn’t last very long. The Braves responded again and again until the dust settled and their offense had tallied 10 runs off 16 base hits to drown the Red Sox’s chances at snagging a series win.

Brayan Bello, who had a hand in the defeat, owned up to failing to capitalize on the lead Devers provided the team with in the third inning.

“It was a very frustrating moment for me because I wanted to keep us ahead, and in that inning I wasn’t able to do that,” Bello said following Boston’s 10-4 loss.

Bello went 4 1/3 innings, allowing seven earned runs off 10 hits and five walks while striking out three. Atlanta’s slugfest against the right-hander matched a career-high in hits and walks surrendered by Bello, and marked the third consecutive start in which he’s thrown fewer than five innings on the mound.

The ongoing trend of subpar pitching performances coming out of both the rotation and bullpen has weighed the team down recently, and it’s prevented the Red Sox from breaking out of their standing as a .500 team.

Boston pitching allowed an opponent to score 10-plus runs and rack up 15-plus base hits, both for the fifth time this season. Just when the Saturday night fireworks from Devers opened the door for a turnaround, the Red Sox suffered their latest stumble as losers in five of their last six games played.

“It’s felt like this for three weeks, but it doesn’t matter. The record is the record,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “There’s no moral victories. We lost the game. We gotta finish innings. We gotta finish at-bats. We have to get better. Does it feel like we’re way off? No, but it’s another loss in the column.”

There isn’t a prime suspect to charge with the slump Boston’s tasked with overcoming. Cora intends to hold the entire clubhouse accountable going forward as the Red Sox continue to search for a much-needed momentum shift.

“It’s everybody,” Cora said. “We have to do better as a group.”

Here are more notes from Sunday afternoon’s Red Sox-Braves game:

— Devers blasted the first grand slam hit at Fenway Park since April 8, 2023, to break a 637-day drought. It was also the sixth grand slam of Devers’ career and helped the three-time All-Star log a season-high in RBIs (four).

— Bello entered Sunday afternoon, having not allowed over three earned runs this season. The seven-run rally from Atlanta notched a season-high in runs coughed up by Bello and marked the third time he’s allowed seven-plus runs in his career.

— The Braves improved to 9-4 at Fenway Park since 2020, and 28-22 when visiting the Red Sox all-time.

— Boston dropped to 23-25 on the season, still sitting second in the American League East.

— The Red Sox will open up another interleague series, hosting the New York Mets for a three-game set starting Monday night. First pitch from Fenway Park is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus a full hour of pregame coverage, live on NESN.