After Saturday night's thrilling win, the Boston Red Sox were unable to capitalize on the momentum, falling to Atlanta 8-1 in Sunday afternoon's series finale.  After back-to-back appearances as a bulk reliever, starter Brayan Bello returned to the Boston rotation, struggling mightily in the process. 

Interim manager Chad Tracy announced after Saturday night's 3-2 win over the Braves that Bello would not appear after an opener, citing the heavy workload of the Red Sox lefty relievers in the last week as the reason to go with Bello in the start. 

The Red Sox made the decision to use Bello behind an opener after he was one of the worst pitchers in baseball through his first six starts, posting a 9.12 ERA, allowing a .374 opponent batting average in 25.2 innings. 

Bello appeared to have something figured out in his two appearances as the bulk reliever. In two appearances in relief, Bello posted a 1.35 ERA, holding batters to just a .170 batting average across 13.1 innings pitched. 

In his return to the rotation, Bello was immediately greeted with the same struggles he saw in his first six starts. After retiring the leadoff batter, catcher Drake Baldwin, via groundout, Bello allowed a single to second baseman Ozzie Albies and issued a walk to first baseman Matt Olson. After retiring centerfielder Michael Harris II, Bello served a middle-middle cutter to third baseman Austin Riley, who made him pay for it dearly, sending it 431 feet to left-center to give Atlanta a 3-0 lead. 

The Braves kept on coming in the second inning as Bello struggled to find the strike zone, allowing the first four batters of the inning to reach, two of them via walk, including an RBI free pass drawn by Baldwin that extended the lead to four. Atlanta would add one more in the second on an RBI groundout from Olson, leading 5-0 after two. "The first few innings just struggled to work ahead in the count and go hurt for it," Tracy told reporters after the game. 

With a depleted bullpen, Tracy had little choice but to let Bello wear this one, allowing two more runs, including a solo shot off the bat of Mike Yastrzemski in the fourth. Bello was mercifully saved when the skies opened up in the sixth inning, leading to a short 30-minute rain delay, which ended Bello's afternoon. The final line: seven runs on eight hits, three walks and one strikeout across five innings of work. 

"Just wasn't able throw strikes consistently," Bello said through a translator after the game, "it's a tough start for me after those two outings, I thought I was going to be able to build on those starts...and that wasn't the case today," he continued. 

As for whether Bello will make his next start, Tracy said they are keeping their options open. 

With the loss, the Red Sox fall to 19-27 on the season, remaining in last place in the American League East. They'll head to Kansas City for the second leg of this six-game road trip for a three-game series with the Royals. Sonny Gray will get the start for Boston opposite Seth Lugo for Kansas City. First pitch from Kauffman Stadium set for 7:40 p.m. ET. 

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