It was tough to fully encapsulate what starting pitcher Brayan Bello gave the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night.
In the end, there was some good, some bad and some ugly.
Bello became the first Red Sox player at least in the Expansion Era (since 1961) to get his first 10 outs via strikeout, but the right-hander wasn’t exactly sharp. Even though Bello recorded a career-high 11 punch outs, he also let up five runs on nine hits with two walks in 5 1/3 innings.
Despite the uneven performance, Bello decided to look at the positives following Boston’s 12-9 win at Fenway Park.
“I think all in all, it was a good day for me,” Bello told reporters through translator Daveson Perez, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “Yeah, the runs is one thing, but I think I gave our team a really good chance to win. It was good to get those strikeouts.”
Bello got off to a rocky start as he allowed two runs in the top of the first inning. But he certainly had his strikeout pitch working for him as Boston’s fielders didn’t have a chance to record an out for themselves until the fourth inning.
Bello, who allowed a 457-foot, three-run bomb to Lawrence Butler in the fifth inning, ended up generating 23 swings-and-misses, which was 12 more than he produced in his last outing against the Miami Marlins.
“I feel really good about that,” Bello said. “I work really hard to get those results. So, to see what I did today makes me feel good.”
Bello hasn’t been at his best this season as he now owns a 9-5 record with a bloated 5.40 ERA. He will look to go into the All-Star break on a high note as he’s slated to pitch the final game of the first half of the season against the Kanas City Royals.
