For the second straight game, chants of “sell the team” echoed from the 35,107 fans at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox dropped their third consecutive game and are now 2-8, matching their worst start through the first 10 games in franchise history, dropping the first game of the series with the Brewers, 8-6.
It was more of the same Monday night. Brayan Bello was unable to pitch deep into the game, a growing concern for Boston’s rotation.
The Red Sox handed Bello a three-run lead, but he couldn’t keep the Brewers off the bases or the scoreboard. It came just one day after the offense gave Ranger Suárez a 4-0 lead Sunday, one he also couldn’t hold against the Padres.
Bello’s outing was a strange one. He generated 12 swings and misses through two innings and 16 through three, all while pitching with constant traffic on the bases. He threw just 58% strikes and walked four, leading Alex Cora to pull him after 3 1/3 innings. Bello allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits while striking out five.
He finished with 17 total whiffs, 10 with his cutter, five with his changeup, and two with his sweeper, according to Baseball Savant.
Boston struck first in the opening inning on a two-out bloop RBI single from Trevor Story. The shortstop, who was dropped from second to fifth in the lineup, added a sacrifice fly in the third to extend the lead to 3-0.
Cora reshuffled the lineup in an effort to spark an offense that has ranked near the bottom of the league, moving Masataka Yoshida up in the order while sliding Story down.
“We’ll see if it works,” said Cora pregame. “Just mix it up. Hopefully, a different spot allows you to unlock it and relax…Regardless of where we hit, we’ve got to make sure we slow it down. We’ve been talking about swinging a lot, not chasing. This (Brewers team) is a good pitching staff and they’re very aggressive in the zone. Hopefully, be on time and put good swings on it.”
With a 3-0 lead, Bello couldn’t settle in and let it slip away as the Brewers capitalized.
The fourth inning followed a familiar pattern, traffic on the bases and missed opportunities to escape. Sal Frelick led off with a single, and former Red Sox infielder Abraham Toro drew his second walk of the night to put two on. Blake Perkins moved both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, and Bello’s fifth walk loaded the bases.
Caleb Durbin’s fielding error, a diving attempt on a William Contreras grounder that deflected off his glove, brought Milwaukee on the board and prompted Cora to head to the mound.
“There’s a lot of stuff that’s not working out for us,” Cora said. “We’re not playing well.”
Cora turned to left-hander Danny Coulombe, but the damage continued. Christian Yelich reached on a grounder to Durbin, whose diving attempt again resulted in the ball kicking off his glove, allowing another run to score.
Coulombe then walked Jake Bauers to force in the go-ahead run, giving the Brewers a 4-3 lead. He was able to limit further damage by inducing an inning-ending double play to cap the disastrous frame.
Boston answered right back in the fourth. Durbin led off with his first double of the season and later scored on a fielding error by David Hamilton. With runners on the corners, Willson Contreras delivered a ground-rule double down the right-field line to give the Red Sox the lead again.
The game wasn’t without drama.
Contreras, who has a history with the Brewers from his time with the Cubs and Cardinals, was hit by a pitch in the third and didn’t hide his frustration, barking at starter Brandon Woodruff as he made his way to first.
Willson Contreras didn’t like being hit by Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff
He then took a hard slide into second base the next at-bat pic.twitter.com/VwX1uxQ33i
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 7, 2026
He continued jawing from the basepath and later slid hard into second trying to break up a double play, going in spikes up and tearing Hamilton’s pant leg in the process.
