The Boston Red Sox got nothing from right-handed starter Brayan Bello in his outing on Tuesday night against the Toronto Blue Jays, as he allowed seven runs in just 2 1/3 innings.
After Greg Weissert came in to finish out the third inning, Josh Winckowski, who was recently recalled from Triple-A Worcester, came in to pitch the remaining six. He ended up giving up two runs on six hits and a walk over those six innings and really saved Boston's bullpen.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora pointed out what his effort meant to the club after the game ended.
“He pounded the strike zone the whole night and he saved us today,” Cora said (via MassLive). “His stuff was really good.”
Winckowski spent over a month down in Triple-A to work on his pitches and control, and Cora is seeing some differences already.
“The changeup for strikes instead of trying to get swings and misses,” Cora said. “When you’ve got stuff like that, you really don’t need swing and misses. You induce the opposition to ground balls and weak contact. The slider was better but the changeup was good and he was throwing it over the plate.”
After essentially using their full bullpen in back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday, this performance from Winckowski was much needed and definitely appreciated by his manager and teammates.
