Bassitt loses pitchers' duel to Bello despite strong 9-K outing

BOSTON -- After a shaky first frame, Chris Bassitt settled in and stood tall for the Blue Jays in a pitchers’ duel against Brayan Bello at Fenway Park on Wednesday night.

Despite his best efforts, Toronto fell, 3-0, for their second straight loss.

Out of the gate, the Sox ripped three singles in the first, and four balls were hit with an exit velocity over 100 mph, none harder than Jarren Duran’s leadoff single (113.9 mph per Statcast), which led to him scoring the only run against Bassitt.

The righty struck out the final batter of the first inning with the bases loaded to escape any additional damage.

Bassitt then struck out the first two batters he faced in the second inning, allowed a walk and then proceeded to retire 13 straight hitters, striking out seven more in that stretch.

He credited his success on the night with switching his spot up on the mound from the first base side of the rubber to the third base side, which allowed him far greater access to a bevy of his pitches.

“Being on the third base side allows me to finish my offspeed pitches a lot more,” said Bassitt. “The sweeper is going to be way better than it’s ever been because I have a lot more room to throw it. Changeup was better than it’s ever been. Curveball I feel like I can throw a lot better.”

He fell into a bit of trouble in his last inning of work after allowing two straight singles to open the seventh, but Bassitt retired the next two batters before his night was done.

“He settled in after the first,” manager John Schneider said of his starter. “Really good mix. The breaking ball was really good to righties, and the cutter, up and out to lefties, was a really good pitch for him. When he’s mixing his pitches and going back and forth, locating his fastballs in and out, it’s a tough lineup to go through, but I thought he did an outstanding job.”

Bassitt’s line on the night read 6 2/3 innings, one run allowed, five hits, one walk and nine strikeouts. The strikeouts matched a season-high, accomplished earlier this month against Baltimore.

“I love the way he pitches,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “Love it. Just changing speeds and the thought process of using the sinker away and the cutter up and the breaking ball -- he put on a clinic, too … every pitch tonight meant something, until the end.”

Offensively, the Blue Jays’ bats were stymied by Bello, who threw a career-high eight innings, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out nine. Boston would tack on two more runs in the bottom of the eighth to keep the Blue Jays at arm’s length.

“It’s one of those nights where a good pitcher has your number,” said Schneider. “If anything, we talked about trying to get him up in the zone a little bit, especially with the changeup. He just did a good job living down and on the edges.”

“You’ve got to tip your hat,” Bassitt said of his counterpart on the night. “From pitch one he was on. Out of 100 pitches, or whatever he threw, he may have hit 85, 90 spots which is off the charts. Sometimes, you’ve just got to say that was one hell of a job by their pitcher.”