ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - One year ago from the day Triston Casas and Brayan Bello led the Red Sox to their first win at Tropicana Field in the last 13 tries, both players were living much different existences.
It was on Sept. 4, 2022 Casas made his major league debut in a game agains the Rangers at Fenway Park. Bello? He was basking in the glow of six shutout innings the day before.
Back then, it was the thoughts of what might be. In this 7-3 win over the Rays, it was what is.
Casas continued his march toward American League Rookie of the Year consideration with a game-changing, sixth-inning three-run homer that gave the visitors the lead for good. (The first baseman would an RBI single in the eighth, as well.)
The ball was sent 419 feet over the left-center field fence, with Casas needing to supply most of the power off of what was a 81.6 mph changeup from Tampa Bay reliever Chris Devenski.
Then there was Bello.
With runners on first and third and two outs in the sixth inning, Bello managed to whiff Harold Ramirez with an 88 mph slider. It elicited a resounding fist pump and the perfect punctuation for what would be the first outing of more than five innings by a Sox starter since Aug. 24.
The win marked the 15th time Bello has gone six or more innings, which is just more than 36 percent of such outings by Red Sox starters.
And, just for good measure, the outfielder they have locked up another four years, Masa Yoshida, launched his second homer in as many games, giving him 15 for the season. By game's end, Casas' OPS stood at .871, with Yoshida coming at .821.
On the day optimism was pumped up through the minor leagues thanks to the promotions of both outfielder Roman Anthony and catcher Kyle Teel to Double-A, the vision for the future became just a bit clearer.
Fortunately for the Red Sox, it just so happened it all paid off big-time for the present, as well.
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