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Red Sox will have Brayan Bello start this week; What about Sonny Gray?
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- Red Sox will have Brayan Bello start this week; What about Sonny Gray?
BOSTON — As the Red Sox begin a very brief homestand of just three games, their starting rotation for a road trip that begins Monday in Detroit is uncertain.
The Red Sox will have back-to-back lefties — Connelly Early for Saturday, followed by Ranger Suárez in the homestand finale Sunday — against the Houston Astros .
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After that, they're officially undecided.
If the Red Sox stay on turn, they'll likely go with Payton Tolle in the series opener Monday. Interim manager Chad Tracy, asked if he expected the struggling Brayan Bello (9.12 ERA) to take his next turn, responded: "I'm planning on that, yes."
Bello has made six starts this season and has only pitched into the fifth inning in two of those. He's totaled almost as any walks (15) as strikeouts (17) and leads the American League in hits and earned runs allowed.
Should Bello go Tuesday, it's possible that veteran Sonny Gray could start the final game of the trip in Detroit Wednesday.
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Gray, who was placed on the IL on April 21 with a hamstring strain , threw a simulated game for three innings Friday afternoon, with Tracy, among others, watching.
"That was good," concluded Gray after the outing. "I felt pretty good. It's what I do. I love to pick up the baseball and I love to throw it. So that was fun. I enjoyed it. I feel like that was good volume. It wasn't a ton of time completely off from throwing, so my body doesn't feel like it got left behind.
"The good part about this when this happened is just being self-aware, (knowing I) did have a strain, which I knew. But then, being able to still work through it. Fortunately, it wasn't something where I had to sit there and completely rest and not get on your feet for a couple of weeks. So that was good. I would feel comfortable and confident getting into a game (soon)."
"Sonny looked good," said Tracy. "You see him out there, he's grunting, he's letting it go. His foot's on the throttle, which is good. Next step is TBD. We're going to talk through with (chief baseball office Craig Breslow and pitching coach Andrew Bailey) and decide if he's going to go back into the rotation or not. We haven't made that decision yet."
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Even if Gray is not activated for the Wednesday slot, it appears he wouldn't miss more than one more turn before rejoining the Red Sox' rotation.
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