ATLANTA -- Celebrating his 27th birthday and coming off two stellar performances in bulk relief, Brayan Bello was looking for a coming-of-age moment in his return to the rotation on Sunday.
Instead, he experienced another setback in what has been his most wobbly season to date.
The righty’s trend of first-inning trouble continued when Austin Riley swatted a three-run homer against him just after the Red Sox narrowly missed completing an inning-ending double play.
Bello’s birthday didn’t get much better as it went.
As Boston lost the rubber match, 8-1, to the Braves at Truist Park, Bello was belted around for eight hits and seven runs while walking three and striking out just one.
“That pitch to Riley probably took him out of the game mentally [for a bit],” said Sox catcher Carlos Narváez, who departed in the sixth with right third finger pain. “Then he fought back to get in the game. Of course, he's a little bit emotional. He wants to succeed. He probably felt a little bit in that inning like, ‘OK, here we go again,’ that type of thought.”
It was interesting that, after Bello held the Tigers and Phillies to a combined eight hits and two runs over 13 1/3 innings with two walks and 12 strikeouts in those two prolonged relief outings, the Sox didn’t stay the course.
But with the team’s lefty opener options (Tyler Samaniego and Jovani Morán) thrust into frequent action of late, interim manager Chad Tracy and his staff decided to put Bello back in the traditional starting role. The top of Atlanta’s potent batting order had three lefties and a switch-hitter, which made Tracy hesitant to use a righty opener.
Tracy expanded on the decision after Sunday’s game.
“We're gonna base it on the bullpen,” Tracy said. “If we're gonna try to stay away from some lefties that are overused, it didn't make sense to just throw another righty. So it's his game, and he just didn't have a great one.”
You wonder if the Sox will now shift Bello back to pitching behind an opener. His numbers in his seven starts this season (9.68 ERA, 10 homers allowed, 18 walks, 18 strikeouts in 30 2/3 innings) are far from pretty.
“Yeah, I think we'll just keep it open and communicate with Brayan first on anything we're going to do,” Tracy said.
In the first innings of his seven starts, Bello has allowed 14 hits, nine earned runs and four homers.
“Yeah, obviously I've been having a lot of troubles in the first inning, but I need to keep working to make that adjustment to get better, not only the first inning, but throughout the start,” Bello said.
In his fifth Major League season, Bello is at the point where many pitchers generally enter a period of peak performance.
Instead, he has struggled mightily, unable to use his expansive repertoire effectively.
“I felt good physically. I just wasn't able to control the strike zone or throw strikes,” said Bello. “Obviously it's a tough, tough stretch for me, a tough start for me after those two outings. I thought I was able to build on those [outings] and be able to start [again] and take off, and it wasn't the case today.”
It will be interesting to see what Boston will do when ace Garrett Crochet is activated from the injured list within the next couple of weeks. The team’s other starters (Ranger Suarez, Payton Tolle, Connelly Early and Sonny Gray) have all performed exceptionally lately.
Bello does have Minor League options remaining. Without question, he is going to have to earn his stay on the big league roster.
“I think, just for me, he was in and out of the zone early,” said Tracy. “The tough part is he had Riley 1-2, he’s a pitch away from getting out of that inning and maybe settling in, and just left a cutter in a bad spot. I think the first few innings, he just struggled to work ahead in the count and got hurt by it.”