BOSTON — The Red Sox looked to Brayan Bello to be their ace this season. They even gave him the ball on Opening Day.
But whether it’s been the added pressure that came with being a frontline starter or other hiccups, Bello hasn’t turned in the season many imagined he would.
The struggles for the 25-year-old right-hander continued Tuesday night in a 9-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. Bello got lit up for seven runs in the third inning and was pulled just one out into that frame. The 2 1/3 innings pitched from Bello was the shortest outing of his career.
“I obviously didn’t want to come out of the game. I wanted to compete. I was kind of surprised when they took me out,” Bello said through translator Daveson Perez. “But, you know, a lot of runs that inning, a lot of pitches being thrown. But hopefully moving forward I don’t have a terrible outing like the one I just had and this is the only short outing that I’ll have.”
Bello’s biggest issue against the Blue Jays was his inability to consistently throw strikes. He allowed the first six batters he faced in the game-altering third inning to reach base and two of those came on free passes. After back-to-back walks, Bello got into a 3-1 hole against Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays star made him pay by mashing a two-run double to give Toronto the lead for good.
Bello finished his short outing with three walks and also hit a batter. Bello’s control issues have been persistent throughout June. He walked three batters in four out of his five starts this month.
“We got to throw more strikes. That’s the most important thing regardless of the results,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “We have to be more aggressive in the zone. He was 3-1 to Vladdy. That summarizes his outing. We got to throw more strikes.”
Cora couldn’t pinpoint the reason for Bello’s lack of command. Neither could Bello. But Bello’s working to turn things around as he’s now 7-5 on the season with a bloated 5.55 ERA, which is by far the highest among Red Sox starting pitchers.
“My mindset is good. Mechanics are good. I don’t really know what’s going on right now,” Bello said. “I do know that I’m working with (pitching coach Andrew Bailey) about attacking the zone, doing what I’m supposed to do. And there’s still a lot of season left for me. I know it hasn’t been great to this point, but I know what I’m capable of and I know what I can do for the rest of the season.”
Here are more notes from Tuesday’s Red Sox-Blue Jays game:
— Rafael Devers has hit 188 home runs in his career, but none were further than the one he crushed off Kevin Gausman in the second inning. The Red Sox star belted a solo shot 467 feet over the bullpens in right field.
— Josh Winckowski made his first appearance with the Red Sox since being sent down to Triple-A Worcester in mid-May and he stepped up with a sneaky good performance. Winckowski pitched six innings of relief, allowing two runs on six hits to go along with a career-high eight strikeouts and one walk. Cora said Winckowski threw his changeup for strikes and an improved slider keyed his outing.
“Pounded the strike zone all night and he saved us today,” Cora said. “His stuff was really good.”
— Jarren Duran’s career-long 14-game hitting streak came to an end. Boston’s leadoff hitter went 0-for-5 and struck out to end the game.
— The Red Sox turned in strong defense for the first two innings, including Dominic Smith making a web-gem play at first when he dove to snare a liner and turned it into a double play. But the defense slipped after that with Wilyer Abreu, Tyler O’Neill and Ceddanne Rafaela all committing throwing errors.
“It wasn’t a great game for us. It wasn’t a great (third) inning for us,” Cora said. “The one thing that I was proud (of was) the way we continued to compete.”
— The Red Sox will send Kutter Crawford to the mound against the Blue Jays in the rubber match of their three-game set Wednesday night at Fenway Park. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.
