Boston

Red Sox

The save was Jansen’s seventh on the season, and the veteran now has a 2.63 ERA on the year. He’s still likely to be moved by the trade deadline, but he figures to get a shot to close no matter where he goes, so he remains a rock-solid fantasy asset.

Rafaela had a ground rule double off of MacKenzie Gore in the second inning and is now up to 22 RBI on the season. The season-long stats don’t look great, but he’s 10-for-34 in May, which is a .323 average. The bigger issue for him is he has 11 strikeouts to just one walk over the same timeframe, which highlights some of the concerns with his profile right now. Still, the 23-year-old figures to play every day for the Red Sox and has the power and speed to remain a useful fantasy play in deeper formats.

Bello struck out just one and walked two, but he also allowed only one extra-base hit and an average exit velocity of just 85 mph. He didn’t miss many bats in this one, with a 19 percent whiff rate and 24 percent CSW, but it wasn’t a bad effort in his first start coming off the IL. He’ll look to build on it next week against a reeling Cardinals offense.

Duran normally hits leadoff for the Red Sox, and while he has gotten on at a .402 clip against southpaws in 2024, he’s picked up just one extra-base hit and slugged .302 against pitchers from that side. He’ll move down in the order with Romy Gonzalez hitting leadoff and handling shortstop duties.

Winckowski is sent down to make room for Brayan Bello with Bello coming off the injured list to start Sunday’s game. The right-hander has mostly been effective in 2024 with a 3.33 ERA in 24 1/3 innings of work, but he’ll head to Triple-A for now. It’s likely a short stay.

Bello has been out since the end of April due to right lat tightness. The right-hander will rejoin the rotation, but it’s worth pointing out he threw just 52 pitches in his last rehab start. He’ll get the ball Sunday against the Nationals, but fantasy managers should proceed with some caution for this outing.

Devers turned a 2-2 game into a 4-2 lead for the Red Sox with a two-run double in the eighth. The 27-year-old third baseman also singled, and the pair of hits ups his line to .288/.403/.481 with 14 RBI. The power leaves a bit to be desired — if only because of lofty expectations — but Devers’ track-record suggests he’ll be among the best at his position again in 2024. Even if he maintained those numbers fantasy managers wouldn’t complain all that much.

Jansen didn’t allow a hit and threw 12-of-16 pitches for strikes. The 36-year-old remains effective in the closing role, and he’s up to six saves while lowering his ERA to 1.86 on the 2024 campaign. Tough to complain about those results.

Criswell allowed only three hits, but two of those were solo homers to make that number a smidgen less impressive. The right-hander did miss plenty of bats in this one, however, in what was another effective start for the 27-year-old. Criswell actually saw his ERA go “up” to 2.10 after this outing, and while he may not go deep, he’s worth considering against the Rays on Thursday.

Whitlock landed on the injured list back in mid-April with a left oblique issue and should be ready to return to Boston’s starting rotation mix prior to the end of May.