CLEVELAND -- On Friday, Brayan Bello dug into the mound at Progressive Field and threw his first pitch of the game against Guardians leadoff hitter Travis Bazzana.
In years prior, Bello making his first pitch of the game against a leadoff hitter would have made sense, considering he had exclusively worked as a starter.
But on Friday, Bello’s pitch came in the second inning with his team trailing 4-0 after opener Tyler Samaniego had a disastrous first inning where the Guardians recorded six hits and batted around.
While Bello was able to stop the bleeding with seven scoreless innings in relief, it wasn’t enough for the ailing Red Sox, who fell, 4-3, to fall to 23-33 on the season.
Not only did Bello allow just four hits in his outing, but he didn’t allow a Guardians baserunner to get past second base and retired the last 12 batters he faced.
Bello working behind an opener has been a bit of a double-edged sword for the Red Sox, as it’s clearly helped him find a new level (0.71 ERA with 22 strikeouts) while also simultaneously putting the team in an early hole. Friday marked the fourth time Bello has worked behind an opener, and the Red Sox allowed a combined nine runs across the four opening frames of those games.
Boston’s offense made the game interesting by tallying three runs in the fifth inning off Guardians starter Slade Cecconi, but failed to scrape the game-tying run across against Cleveland’s bullpen.