+Won 4 straight, including the first 4 vs Baltimore
+79-65, still playing meaningful September ball
+Contreras nearing return from hamstring injury
−Bello's last line was an 8-run blowup
−Bullpen down Slaten and Guerrero to injury
−Rafaela, Yoshida and Casas all out for the stretch
Brayan Bello (5-7, 4.82 ERA) got the ball for Boston against Grayson Rodriguez (4-6, 6.28) in a 1:35 PM ET matinee at Fenway. Rodriguez's last turn was a 7-strikeout effort in a loss to the Yankees, but Bello hadn't taken the mound with a decision on the books since a rough June outing, leaving real uncertainty walking in for the home team.
Grayson Rodriguez
(4-8)·5.96 ERA
Sep 1 vs Yankees
L
6.0IP
4ER
7K
2BB
102P
09/07 Lineup
Brayan Bello
(6-7)·4.49 ERA
Jun 4 vs Orioles
L
5.0IP
8ER
4K
3BB
108P
09/07 Lineup
That uncertainty didn't stop Boston from being the far shorter side on the board. Interim manager Chad Tracy — who's been running the club since Alex Cora's midseason departure — is already without Ceddanne Rafaela (quad) and reliever Justin Slaten, who's been shut down from throwing with an elbow issue, while Willson Contreras is still working back from a hamstring strain. The Angels walked in missing starter George Klassen (back) and reliever Sam Bachman (forearm), a rotation and bullpen already stretched thin against a team playing its best ball of the summer.
Boston didn't wait long to make those roster gaps matter. The Red Sox jumped Rodriguez for 4 runs in the 2nd inning and tacked on another in the 3rd, and Bello made it stand up even while working off rust. The Angels never threatened, scratching across single runs in the 6th and 8th but never turning this into anything resembling a track meet.
The Polymarket chat's busiest 5-minute window of the day landed right as that 2nd-inning outburst piled on, and one poster holding Boston couldn't help themselves: "HOMMERRRR." By the time the Angels finally got on the board late, the mood had flipped enough that one fan just posted, "Comeback time."
For an Angels club now sitting at 54-89, this was one more example of how far the gap has grown from a Red Sox team using a healthy stretch of pitching and a hot lineup to keep pushing toward meaningful September baseball. Boston's win streak now sits at 5, and it didn't need a vintage Bello start to get there.
Angels 2, Red Sox 5: Final Score & Odds Recap — Red Sox Cruise Past Skidding Angels To Extend Streak
