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