Coming off an emotional weekend in which he finalized a new contract extension and returned to his native Dominican Republic, Brayan Bello came back to Earth on Tuesday with a bumpy outing in the Red Sox 8-6 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Originally expected to go four innings, Bello needed 63 pitches to get through three and allowed four runs on six hits and two walks in the process. Bello tallied only one strikeout and allowed a solo home run to Alec Burleson in the third inning, and he was pulled with no outs in the fourth after walking the leadoff man, who’d come around to score on a two-run single by Jordan Walker later off reliever Jason Alexander.
Tanner Houck fared better in his 3.1 innings of work, allowing one run on two hits with no walks and three strikeouts, and Brennan Bernardino allowed one run in the ninth to wrap up the day. Houck’s only damage came courtesy of a solo home run by Ivan Herrera in the seventh, but otherwise the righty was in full control.
Offensively Tuesday was a banner day for Trevor Story, who went 3 for 3 with two extra-base hits and three RBI. Story hit a two-run home run in the first inning, his first homer of the spring, and next time up he hit an RBI double to tie the score at 3-3. Ceddanne Rafaela continued his strong spring with a two-run homer, and Connor Wong went 3 for 3 with a run scored. Dalton Guthrie drove in Boston’s last run in the bottom of the ninth with an RBI single, but that’s as close as the Red Sox would come.
With the loss the Red Sox fall to 11-7 in Grapefruit League play. They’ll next face the Yankees in Tampa on Wednesday at 1:05 p.m.