Red Sox Need To Put Brayan Bello In Better Position Amid Opener Struggles
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The Boston Red Sox seem to have figured things out with Brayan Bello, who has allowed only two runs across his four appearances with the team using an opener from the bullpen.
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Bello has dealt with plenty of struggles starting this season, posting a 9.68 ERA across seven starts. When using an opener, however, the 27-year-old has performed incredibly, posting an absurd 0.71 ERA in 25 1/3 innings across four appearances.
Despite Bello's recent successes, the Red Sox have only won one of the games in which they used an opener, with Bello consistently being put in poor situations down early. Boston has allowed one or more runs in the first inning in each of the games with an opener.
Even after using Tyler Samaniego as the opener instead of Jovani Morán on Friday against the Cleveland Guardians, the Red Sox still went down early.
"But on Friday, Bello’s pitch came in the second inning with his team trailing 4-0 after opener Tyler Samaniego had a disastrous first inning where the Guardians recorded six hits and batted around," MLB.com's Henry Palattella wrote on Friday. "Not only did Bello allow just four hits in his outing, but he didn’t allow a Guardians baserunner to get past second base and retired the last 12 batters he faced.
"Friday marked the fourth time Bello has worked behind an opener, and the Red Sox allowed a combined nine runs across the four opening frames of those games. The Red Sox have a clear reason to use an opener behind Bello, given he has an 11.57 ERA in the first inning this year (nine earned runs in seven innings). But they also need to figure out a better way to get him into situations where he’s not pitching from behind."
It's great for the Red Sox that Bello has returned to form, but with how well the five-year veteran has pitched behind an opener, Boston needs to find a way to put him in a better position moving forward.
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