Brayan Bello didn’t pitch well in his last outing Friday against Arizona, as he was tagged for five runs on seven hits in 5 ⅓ innings of a 12-2 blowout loss. He entered Wednesday’s outing with a 6.96 ERA in seven career starts against the Blue Jays, including a 9.72 ERA in two games this year. The arrow wasn’t pointing toward a career night.
Brayan Bello powered the Red Sox to a shutout victory with eight dominant innings. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)AP
But that’s what Bello delivered in a 3-0 Red Sox win that brought Boston back within three games of a playoff spot while the Twins lost to the Braves. The 25-year-old was utterly dominant against the Blue Jays, tossing eight shutout innings, striking out nine batters and allowing two hits in the longest start of his career.
“It was his best outing in the big leagues, against a team that has given him trouble,” said manager Alex Cora. “He was able to keep them off balance, use the fastball enough to keep them honest. It was outstanding.
“That was amazing. It was fun to watch. Under control, pitch by pitch. He didn’t get ahead. The sinker was good, the four-seamer was great. Changeup, slider was outstanding.”
Bello needed just 13 pitches in a 1-2-3 first, then after a Wilyer Abreu RBI single gave him the lead, avoided serious trouble in the middle of the game. Dueling with veteran righty Chris Bassitt, Bello stranded Addison Barger on second after a one-out double in the second, then allowed only two more baserunners while keeping his pitch count low. Bello seemed to be locked in on every pitch and was more animated than usual on the mound. It was just the second time a Red Sox starter has given them eight innings through 133 games this year.
“He was excited, but not too excited,” Cora said. “He was very level, stayed in the moment and gave us a much-needed outing with where we were bullpen-wise.”
Bello needed just 97 pitches to get through eight innings, throwing 66 strikes. He got 15 whiffs, including seven on his slider and five on his well-regarded changeup. He also mixed in seven four-seamers that averaged 95.2 mph. A pitch Bello had abandoned for the first three months of the season has now re-entered his arsenal in select spots.
“I feel like it’s really helped me against lefties to give them a different look and change their eyesight,” Bello said through translator Daveson Perez. “It has been a huge pitch for me.”
Bello’s roller-coaster first half ended with a 5.32 ERA in 17 starts and included him being unplugged from the rotation in early July. But quietly, he has put together a pretty good second part of the season. In eight starts since the All-Star break, he owns a 3.42 ERA while striking out 46 batters in 47 ⅓ innings. The Red Sox have won six of his eight second half outings.
“He understands where we’re at and what it’s all about,” Cora said. “He has been pitching well for a while here. It’s not like all of the sudden this happened because he was struggling. He has been throwing the ball well for a month and a half. Stuff-wise, it has been more than a month and a half. Now, it’s execution.”
For the Red Sox to have a real chance of chasing down other AL contenders and playing in October, they’ll need their rotation to step up, just like Bello did Wednesday.
“We’re in the middle of trying to get into the playoffs right now so I really wanted to win this game so we can keep going forward like we have been,” Bello said. “I love those games, mostly just because when the score is like that, you have to stay focused. You have to focus on executing every single pitch. I really enjoyed it.”
I definitely think that was one of my better starts in the big leagues. In all phases, I thought it was one of the best.
