Red Sox reactions: Blowout win includes near-brawl, Brayan Bello bounce-back and offensive explosion

DETROIT — Instant reactions as the Red Sox (15-21) blow out the Tigers, 10-3, in a game that featured a bludgeoning of Framber Valdez, a strong Brayan Bello performance and a near-brawl at Comerica Park:

1) It wasn’t quite a brawl, but the Red Sox and Tigers found themselves at the brink of fisticuffs in the fourth inning after Valdez — who had just given up back-to-back homers to give the Red Sox 10 runs by the fourth — hit Trevor Story in the upper back with a 94 mph first-pitch fastball. Story clearly thought it was intentional, and so did crew chief Dan Iassogna, who ejected Valdez after the benches cleared.

Boston’s dugout emptied out with agitated agitator Willson Contreras leading the charge against Valdez. The Tigers bench emptied, too, and both teams’ bullpens ran in, but no punches or pushes were thrown. The Red Sox, working with a big lead, never retaliated.

Both Story and interim manager Chad Tracy said after the game that they thought Valdez threw at Story intentionally, with Tracy calling the actions “weak.”

2) The biggest development of the night for the Red Sox? Bello put together a fantastic outing in a somewhat-adjusted role. Pitching in relief of opener Jovani Morán, Bello pitched seven very solid innings, allowing one run on four hits while striking out seven Tigers batters.

It helped some that the Red Sox opened up a massive lead early in the game. But Bello was good before that, needing just seven pitches to record his first three outs. It remains to be seen how the Red Sox will use the righty from here, but he staved off some potential hard conversations by looking like the best version of himself against Detroit.

Bello had allowed 12 earned runs on 19 hits in seven innings over his last two outings. With Tuesday’s performance, his ERA dropped from 9.12 to 7.44.

3) Considering the opponent, Boston’s bats put together perhaps their best performance of the season against Valdez, who had stymied a similar lineup at Fenway on April 19. The lefty pounded the strike zone for his entire outing — and the Red Sox hit him all over the field.

Ceddanne Rafaela’s three-run, opposite-field homer with two outs in the first inning was the salvo fired. Then, after a scoreless second, the Sox’ offense exploded in the third. With one out, the Sox laced five straight singles as Rafaela, Andruw Monasterio, Caleb Durbin and Connor Wong all drove in runs. To lead off the fourth, Willson Contreras pulled a no-doubt homer and Wilyer Abreu hit a left-on-left missile to lead off the inning. The back-to-back shots made it 10-2.

Also of no doubt? The fact Contreras’ demonstrative bat flip played a role in Valdez’s decision to plunk Story.

In all, the usually steady Valdez allowed 10 runs (seven earned) on nine hits while getting just nine outs.

4) All around, it was a very good night for the Red Sox, who will have a chance to sweep their first series of the year Wednesday. Quietly, the club is 6-4 in their last 10, which is something considering all of the turmoil and drama — and a difficult schedule.

Before Tuesday, the Red Sox had won the opening game of a series five times — and lost four of those series while tying the other. They are back up to six games under .500 at 15-21.

5) On a night when the Red Sox had many offensive standouts, Rafaela led the way with four RBIs (his third such game in the last two years). Abreu, who homered off a lefty for the first time this year — and just the third time ever — had three hits, like Rafaela. Caleb Durbin had two.

In all, every Red Sox starter had a hit except for the No. 1 (Jarren Duran) and No. 9 (Isiah Kiner-Falefa) hitters. A 5-for-10 (.500) showing with runners in scoring position was welcomed, too, as the club had double-digit hits for the second straight night.

6) At first, the Red Sox’ master plan to have Bello come in after Morán didn’t work out. Pitching with a 3-0 lead, Morán labored through a 37-pitch first inning in which he faced eight Tigers hitters (and allowed two to score). He avoided even worse damage by striking out Zach McKinstry with the bases loaded to end the inning.

7) The win also featured yet another major league debut for a Red Sox pitcher as 29-year-old lefty Alec Gamboa pitched the ninth. Gamboa, who was promoted from Triple-A on Monday, worked a scoreless inning and recorded two strikeouts.

Gamboa became the seventh Red Sox hurler to debut this season, joining Ryan Watson, Tyler Uberstine, Tyler Samaniego, Jack Anderson, Eduardo Rivera and Jake Bennett.

8) The Red Sox will activate righty Sonny Gray (2-1, 4.30 ERA) off the injured list in order to start Wednesday’s series finale at 6:40 p.m. ET. The Tigers will send righty Jack Flaherty (0-2, 5.90 ERA) to the mound as they try to avoid a sweep.

Boston will then fly home after the game and host a seven-game homestand with the Rays and Phillies set to visit Fenway Park.

More Red Sox coverage

• Red Sox say Framber Valdez intentionally hit Trevor Story with pitch: ‘It was weak,’ says Chad Tracy
• Red Sox updates: Sonny Gray slated to return Wednesday; what’s new on Ranger Suárez?
• Red Sox and Tigers clear benches, Framber Valdez ejected after Trevor Story hit by pitch
• Red Sox lineup has no Masataka Yoshida vs. tough lefty — even with Roman Anthony out
• Red Sox get ‘good news’ on Roman Anthony’s wrist, but he’s day-to-day, not with team

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