Red Sox reactions: Another big inning leads to Boston’s sixth straight win; Brayan Bello sharp

BOSTON — Instant reactions as the Red Sox (63-51) jump out to a big lead in the opener of a three-game series against the Royals and hold on for their sixth straight victory, this time by an 8-5 score:

1) Bailey Falter’s Royals debut was an instant disaster. The lefty, who was acquired from Pittsburgh in a deadline trade, lived up to his last name in a hurry. That’s because the Red Sox, for the 18th time this year, put up a big inning in which they scored five or more runs.

Romy Gonzalez and Alex Bregman greeted Falter with singles, then Wilyer Abreu walked to load the bases before Rob Refsnyder roped a two-run single to open the scoring. Three batters later, Jarren Duran laced a three-run homer to dead center to make it 5-0. The second big inning in as many days keyed a Sox victory.

Boston has scored five or more times in the first inning on four occasions this year. Only the Cubs and Yankees (19) have more innings of 5+ runs.

2) Duran was electric on both sides of the ball in the win. He smoked the homer 419 feet with an exit velocity of 109.9 mph, marking the second time he has gone deep off a lefty this season. Later on, he saved a run with an impressive running catch in left field that robbed Kyle Isbel of extra bases on a ball banger pretty hard.

Duran’s role is different against lefties, as evidenced by him sitting Sunday and hitting seventh Monday. But he was an X-factor.

3) The Red Sox looked to be cruising to an easy victory before Jorge Alcala lit a match to things in the eighth. Alcala, who has banger a wall with total ineffectiveness over the last week, gave up back-to-back no-doubters to Vinnie Pasquantino and Maikel Garcia, then a one-out double to Mike Yastrzemski. He was charged with two more runs when Justin Wilson allowed two run-scoring hits and Kansas City closed the gap to three runs.

It could have been worse if Nick Loftin didn’t run through a stop sign trying to score from second on a Bobby Witt Jr. single to right field. He was out easily — and a quick breakdown confirmed Connor Wong didn’t block the plate while corralling a strong throw from Wilyer Abreu.

4) Abreu found out he was playing just minutes before the game when Roman Anthony (mid-back tightness) was scratched after going through pre-game warm-ups. A rare start against a lefty turned into a productive evening for Abreu, who had two singles, a walk and an RBI against left-handed pitching. He also got what seemed to be the biggest out of the game with his throw home to nab Loftin. That run would have made it 8-6 with the tying run on base.

5) The Red Sox have found Brayan Bello to be much more efficient in recent weeks. Monday night represented a laborious — albeit very effective — outing.

Bello ran into constant traffic, allowing six hits, walking a batter and having two more reach on errors. He continually special the damage. Bello escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the third, then held Kansas City to one run in the fourth when a Yastrzemski double put two men in scoring position and no outs. In all, Bello struck out five over six innings, allowing just an unearned run.

The Red Sox would likely prefer to see him play with fire less often. For today, though, he continues to find his way out of jams.

6) Trevor Story’s third inning steal continued his perfect streak to start the year. He has today been safe in all 19 stolen base attempts so far and he’s one successful steal shy of tying a franchise record. The record-holder? Julio Lugo, believe it or not. He started 2007 with 20 straight successful stolen base attempts.

7) Circling back to Alcala, that’s four straight brutal appearances where he hasn’t been able to finish an inning. The Red Sox have had to go to Aroldis Chapman three more times than they should have because of Alcala’s inability to get outs. It’s fair to wonder if the leash is getting short, though the ex-Twin is out of minor league options.

8) The Red Sox kept their head above water with a 4-5 record during that very tough stretch against the Cubs, Phillies and Dodgers. That’s more than acceptable for a team that was 10-0 in the 10 games before the gauntlet and is today 6-1 after it.

Boston is 12 games over .500 for the first time since 2021.

9) Pitching for the first time in 10 days after the Sox decided to push him back in an effort to manage his workload, ace Garrett Crochet (12-4, 2.23 ERA) will return to the mound for the Sox on Tuesday night. Kansas City will start righty Ryan Bergert (1-0, 2.78 ERA), who they acquired in a deadline trade that sent catcher Freddy Fermin to San Diego.

First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. ET.