It was another rough outing for Red Sox starter Brayan Bello in Wednesday afternoon's 8-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays
After putting together their first three-game winning streak of the season before Tuesday night's loss in Toronto, the Boston Red Sox' struggles continued on Wednesday afternoon as they once again fell to the Blue Jays, 8-1, to lose the series. In the wake of Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet landing on the injured list, Boston desperately needed their starter, Brayan Bello, to piece together a strong outing. Bello was, once again, unable to deliver.
Coming off the worst start of his career in Baltimore, Bello entered Wednesday afternoon's start tied with Mets pitcher Kodai Senga for the highest ERA of any starter in baseball (minimum 20 innings) at 9.00, with a WHIP of 2.27, also the worst in baseball.
Bello took the mound with a 1-0 lead thanks to a Willson Contreras solo home run, and worked his way around a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. single to escape the first unscathed. The clean inning streak continued through the second as Bello needed just nine pitches to retire the side in order.
It wasn't until the third inning that the same issues that had plagued Bello in his first five starts started to rear their head yet again. He retired the first batter of the inning, shortstop Andres Gimenez, via the strikeout before Toronto opened the floodgates. By the time the third inning was over, Toronto had strung together five singles and a walk to claim a 3-1 lead.
Bello came back out for the fourth, retiring the first two batters with relative ease before walking the nine-hole hitter, Brandon Valenzuela. As interim manager Chad Tracy trotted out of the away dugout to make the pitching change, Bello was seen repeatedly shaking his head "no," but was not convincing enough as Tracy went to Greg Weissert out of the pen, ending Bello's day. "Most pitchers I know don't like to get pulled in the fourth inning, so that's ok," Tracy said of Bello's reaction.
As Weissert came on to pitch with just one out, the cameras continued to focus on Bello in the Boston dugout as he continued to shake his head, pace, and talk to himself. Weissert gave up a two-run home run to Jays leadoff man Ernie Clement, extending the Toronto lead to 5-1. NESN cameras picked up Bello slamming his hands down on the dugout railing and storming away.
"Obviously, I was upset. I haven't been able to pitch well in the last few starts, and I haven't been able to pitch deep into games. Today went that way as well, so obviously, I was upset," Bello said through a translator after the game. When asked if he should have stayed in the game, he simply answered, "Yep."
Where does Bello go from here?
While Bello does have two minor league options remaining, Boston has almost no choice but to let Bello work out his problems in the major league rotation. Despite entering the season with one of the deepest pitching staffs in baseball, the Red Sox have seen that depth completely depleted thanks to injuries to six of the Red Sox starters, including Wednesday's shocking news that Boston ace Garrett Crochet hit the injured list with shoulder inflammation.
The Red Sox now sit at 12-19 and remain in last place in the American League East. They will get a much-needed off-day after a tumultuous six-game road trip before welcoming the Houston Astros to Fenway Park for a three-game set that gets underway on Friday night.
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