Laborious first undermines Bello in another abbreviated start

BOSTON – While the Red Sox were facing a master craftsman at the height of his powers in Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, their own starting pitcher, Brayan Bello, is still trying to jump to that next level where his results consistently match his raw stuff.

Saturday marked another exercise in frustration for the 26-year-old, who couldn’t create much of a duel against the two-time reigning American League Cy Young Award winner.

Trying to register their first three-game winning streak of the season following Friday’s exciting 1-0 walk-off win in 10 innings, the Sox (8-12) took a 4-1 defeat at Fenway Park.

The main issue in this one? Bello’s inability to close out at-bats with two strikes.

“He wasn't efficient early on,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “And you know, that's something we've been talking about as a pitching staff. It feels like we get ahead, but we don't stay ahead, or we kind of get them back in the count, and you have to bury guys – especially 0-2, 1-2, that's when you get your strikeouts. He wasn't able to do that today.”

The tone was set from the outset, when Bello threw a whopping 35 pitches in the first inning.

“Yeah, I think the fact is I'm not throwing competitive pitches with two strikes,” Bello said. “And that's something that I know and need to work on.”

Bello’s second biggest issue? Falling behind in the count.

“From my end, I think he was falling behind in the count from pitch one,” said Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras. “He threw too many of the same pitch, I guess. But any pitcher in the big leagues falling behind the count, they're gonna get hurt.”

On the plus side, Bello minimized the damage, holding the Tigers to just one run before Skubal threw his first pitch.

But that was outweighed by the fact that Bello’s innings would be capped due to such a heavy early workload.

The righty lasted four innings, allowing five hits and four runs while walking three and striking out four. He threw 84 pitches – just 47 of them for strikes.

After Bello’s solid 2025 season (11-9, 3.35 ERA), the hope is for him to take it up a level in his fourth full season in Boston’s rotation.

While there is plenty of time for that to still end up being the case, Bello (1-2, 6.75 ERA) has struggled in three of his first four starts.

“Obviously, I’m not happy, but I think I did the same thing last year,” Bello said. “I didn't have the best start, and I was able to turn it around, and I think that's something that I can do right now. I still have a lot of starts in front of me. I know I'm capable of turning things around and making the necessary adjustments to get back to the groove and the rhythm of going deep into the games [like I’ve done in the past].”

The Red Sox thus far this season are overly dependent on their starter having a good day. The Sox are 8-0 when they get a quality start and 0-12 when they don’t.

Skubal’s shutdown
Falling behind any team by a score of 4-0 less than halfway through the game is tough sledding. Doing so against Skubal is doubly tough.

The Red Sox hoped against hope they could rally against the force that is Skubal. But the lefty held strong, retiring the first nine batters he faced and not giving up a hit until the fifth inning.

“A 4-0 game in the big leagues, we can turn it around anytime. We couldn't find the way today,” Contreras said. “He executed whenever he had to execute. He mixed all his pitches. In a big spot, he executed every pitch that he wanted to throw.”

The Boston bats actually rallied in the fifth, loading the bases with nobody out. But Connor Wong got a run home in just about the worst way possible, grounding into a double play after chasing a few pitches throughout the at-bat.

“On a 1-0 count, it was a strike, but not a pitch that Wonger wants [to swing at] in that situation,” said Cora.

Likely due to the team’s slow start to the season, Cora sees his hitters trying to do too much at times.

“We chased,” Cora said. “We chased a lot today. We just have to be better. You have to chip away with aces. You have to make sure when you have your chances to cash in, get it close enough. Or get the lead. Get a run here, a run there.”