BOSTON— Adley Rutschman hit a three-run homer off the Pesky Pole in right field, Brayan Bello pitched five scoreless innings in his first start since early June and the Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-2 on Monday for their fifth straight victory.
Jarren Duran hit his 20th homer, a solo shot, to spark a four-run second inning for Boston, which improved to an MLB-best 34-17 since the All-Star break and closed to two games behind the Yankees for the AL’s top-wild card spot. New York owns the tiebreaker by winning the season series.
Moisés Ballesteros hit a solo homer for the AL West’s last-place Angels, who have lost 12 of 14 games.
Making his first start since giving up a career high-tying eight runs on June 4 before he was sent to Triple-A for nearly a month, Bello (6-7) worked around a high pitch count to keep the Angels to four hits with seven strikeouts.
The 27-year-old Bello, who had a solid run out of the bullpen the past two months, started because interim manager Chad Tracy decided to move back every starter.
Garrett Whitlock, the third reliever, pitched the ninth for his third save.
Duran hit the first pitch from Grayson Rodriguez (4-7) deep into the right-field seats to open the big second inning. Rutschman hooked his down the line, smacking the pole to make it 4-0.
Eli White added an RBI single in the third.
Boston swept a three-game series against the Angels in Anaheim in early July.
Rodriguez allowed three earned runs or fewer in six of his previous seven starts before giving up five over four innings Monday.
Up next
LHP Reid Detmers (4-8, 3.44 ERA) is set to start for the Angels against LHP Patrick Sandoval (1-4, 4.41) on Tuesday night in the middle game of the series.