Boston closed its regular-season Fenway Park schedule with a doubleheader sweep of the Cubs, finishing the day with a 2-0 nightcap behind Brayan Bello and a late two-run hit from Wilyer Abreu.
The Red Sox had expected to remain home two more days, but a nor’easter forecast for the Boston area will push Sunday’s series finale to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. The clubs will complete the three-game set at the neutral site before Boston turns its attention to October.
Quick facts
- Boston beat Chicago 4-3 in the opening game of the split doubleheader.
- The Game 1 result secured the Red Sox as the American League’s No. 5 postseason seed.
- Boston followed with a 2-0 victory in the night game.
- Wilyer Abreu delivered a two-run double with two outs in the eighth inning.
- Brayan Bello worked four scoreless innings and faced one hitter in the fifth.
- The Red Sox will meet the Yankees in a best-of-three Wild Card Series on the road.
The first-game win locked Boston into a postseason rematch with New York, the same opponent it faced a year ago. The Wild Card Series will be played away from Fenway, leaving the Red Sox with work to do before they can bring October baseball back to Boston.
In the second game, the Cubs and Red Sox were locked in a scoreless contest into the bottom of the eighth. Abreu changed the whole shape of it, driving a double high off the Green Monster in left with two outs to bring home both runs.
Bello supplied the foundation. The right-hander carried his strong second-half turnaround into his final postseason tune-up, blanking Chicago through four innings before recording an additional out in the fifth.
Now the Red Sox head south for Sunday’s relocated finale, hoping their last regular-season image at Fenway becomes a preview rather than a farewell. If they get through the Yankees, Fenway’s first possible postseason date would be Oct. 7, in Game 3 of a potential Division Series against the Rays.
