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Why Red Sox are starting Brayan Bello — and not using an opener — on Sunday vs. Braves
- Story by
- Why Red Sox are starting Brayan Bello — and not using an opener — on Sunday vs. Braves
ATLANTA — Red Sox righty Brayan Bello has bounced back from a brutal start to the season with two consecutive strong outings in which he has followed an opener in recent weeks. Yet on Sunday, he’ll make a traditional start for the first time since struggling in Toronto on April 29 .
The reason? It’s less about Bello and more about a bullpen that has been used heavily in recent days with the Red Sox playing seven straight games decided by three or more runs.
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“It’s hard. We’ve played a ton of them (close games),” said interim manager Chad Tracy. “It helped a lot last night with (Payton) Tolle giving us eight innings.”
Boston has frequently turned to righties Garrett Whitlock and Justin Slaten as well as lefties Jovaní Morán and Tyler Samaniego in recent days. Morán, who has opened in front of Bello both times the Red Sox have gone that route, threw 21 pitches Tuesday and 21 more Friday. Closer Aroldis Chapman might also be unavailable Sunday after taking a comebacker off his heel on the last play of Saturday’s win.
“We’ve used the bullpen a good bit,” said Tracy. “It just lined up. We’ve used Morán and Sammy quite a bit as well. The top of this lineup is very left-handed and if you’re gonna do it, you’re gonna do it there. If we don’t feel like we want to do that today then it makes sense to give Brayan the ball.
“We just felt like with where we were at, today would be a day to let him go out there and start the game. Hope he continues to attack the zone just like he has the last couple times.”
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Bello had a 9.12 ERA in six starts before the Red Sox decided to be creative and let him pitch in relief for the first time on May 5 in Detroit . It worked then, as he allowed one run and struck out seven batters in seven innings against the Tigers. He was similarly effective Tuesday against the Phillies, logging 6 ⅓ innings while allowing one run on four hits and recording five strikeouts.
In total, Bello has allowed two runs on eight hits and has a 12-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 13 ⅓ relief innings.
“You can’t say enough about the couple of outings he has had coming behind an opener,” said Tracy. “I know in his own mind, he probably wants to start. At the end of the day, you still have a job to do and he went out there and did it at a very high level.”
The Red Sox aren’t sure how they’ll use Bello moving forward. On Sunday, his 27th birthday, he won’t have the luxury of having someone else face a potent top of the order for the Braves, who feature Drake Baldwin , Ozzie Albies , Matt Olson and Michael Harris II as their top four hitters.
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“I think it’s a good test... but just because you don’t start the game doesn’t mean you’re not going to go have to face really good hitters,” Tracy said. “He faced them and got them out.”
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