Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox must make a decision regarding Brayan Bello.

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The Boston Red Sox’ first-inning struggles when pitching to their opponent continued Friday against the Cleveland Guardians.

Relief pitcher Tyler Samaniego was the difference for Boston, who opened in the first frame ahead of Brayan Bello. Samaniego allowed all four of Cleveland’s runs in his opener debut; the Red Sox ultimately lost 4-3.

Bello, who has pitched the bulk role in four of his last five scheduled outings, was nails in the next seven innings. He didn’t allow a single run or walk and struck out five.

“I just feel really comfortable, really comfortable with throwing every single one of my pitches for strikes in whatever count,” Bello said via a translator postgame. “I think that’s the most important thing for a pitcher, is to be comfortable on the mound and just to overall be comfortable throwing whatever pitch.”

Boston finds itself in a tough situation with Bello. The 27-year-old right-hander was so bad as a normal starting pitcher that the team decided to put an opener in front of him at the beginning of May.

In 30.2 innings as a starter this season, Bello owns a 9.68 ERA with a .370 opponent batting average, 18 strikeouts and walks each, and 10 home runs.

Bello has performed strikingly well in his new role – he has a 0.71 ERA, 22 strikeouts, and just three walks across 25.1 innings. But the pitcher who comes before him routinely does not.

Interim manager Chad Tracy said after the game it’s impossible to understand why Bello’s season has gone the way it has.

“I don’t know that you can make sense of it,” Tracy said. “The most important thing for me right now is that [Bello] looked great. Also, not only looked great, but had a swagger about him on the mound that we’ve seen in the past. I’m just mostly very pleased to see how he threw the ball.”

Jovani Moran was the opener in Bello’s first three bulk appearances, but he allowed five earned runs across those outings, which paved the way for Samaniego Friday.

The Red Sox had hopes that this experiment would finally work out. Unfortunately for them, it did not.

Tracy admitted that managing Bello’s outings has been difficult. The team takes things day-to-day when determining whether Bello will start, but it doesn’t seem to work out no matter what they try.

“It’s hard. It’s hard to figure that out,” Tracy said. “You can’t ignore the fact that Bello’s been very successful in it (as a bulk guy). Ultimately, having him be that way – in the starter role – would be awesome.

“We’re still trying, you know. We had some of those where we haven’t gotten off to the best start, and then he comes in trailing.”

Bello said he wants to put himself in a position to return to being a starter full-time.

“I’m in a mode where I wanna prove that I can start and that I can go my five, six innings plus,” he said. “And what better way to do that than in the role that was given to me: making the most of it and putting up zeroes.”

The opener situation on Bello days is not a long-term solution. The opener, whoever it may be, continues to flail; this also results in a short-handed bullpen. The lack of even one arm in the pen by way of a first-inning start doesn’t help with Garrett Whitlock being on the injured list.

It’s not a good place for Bello to be, either, because he can’t pitch in bulk relief for the rest of his career. The organization must decide what to do with Bello for the benefit of the team’s entire pitching arsenal and the individual at the center of the situation.

Back on the field, Boston found itself in a 4-0 hole until the fifth inning when its offense came to life. Marcelo Mayer, Caleb Durbin, and Jarren Duran each drove in a run in their consecutive at-bats to bring the Red Sox within one.

As has been the case all year, the bats went silent the rest of the way, resulting in a 4-3 loss. Boston left seven runners on base and hit 2 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

The defeat brought the Red Sox to 10 games under .500 (23-33) for the first time since 2020. They’ve lost six of their last seven games, remain in last place in the American League East, and are five games back of the third wild-card spot.