Brayan Bello is in the midst of his least productive season with the Boston Red Sox. His ERA is well above five as the season moves to July, almost a full tick over what it was over the course of last season. Fortunately, the 25-year-old is starting to piece together some excellent games.
The Red Sox defeated the Miami Marlins 7-2 as Bello pitched a season-high 6.2 innings and allowed seven hits, one walk and one (earned) run while striking out seven batters. The Marlins are as easy to beat as they come but Bello nonetheless did his job really well. Getting an easy opponent like that can serve as a springboard for Bello as he puts his bad games behind him.
One of the biggest factors for Bello in his win was the reintroduction of his four-seam fastball. He threw it 11 times out of his 91 pitches, averaging 96.8 miles per hour and topping out at 98.4. It made for a nice complement to his sinker. Even though a few of them made their way well away from the strike zone, Bello produced five strikes (four foul balls and a called strike) and a shallow flyout.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora revealed that Bello himself asked to bring the four-seamer back to his pitch mix after not using it all season long.
"He's one of our best ones. We got to get him going and today was a good one." Alex Cora on Brayan Bello's performance in the win | #RedSox
“He actually brought it up early in the week. [Pitching coach Andrew Bailey] and the group, they're gonna help him out. If he feels comfortable with it, we’ll use it,” Cora said. “I think he picked his spots. Location-wise, was really good. It's a pitch that we didn’t use early on and he felt like he needed it. We'll pick his spots to use it.”
Red Sox need Brayan Bello to get going amid postseason chase
The Red Sox have Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford pitching really well at the front end of their starting rotation but need guys behind them to be effective, too. Bello has a ton of talent and can throw with great velocity. Using the four-seamer as a fourth pitch in his mix can be effective for Bello, who goes mostly to his sinker, changeup and slider.
Bailey said that the plan was to bring the four-seamer back for Bello eventually and that this was the right time to do it, according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive.
“Looking to add the four-seamer back was something we were looking to do at some point in time,” Bailey said, via MassLive. “Brayan brought it up to us and spoke about how it can help him free up some of the other pitchers a little bit…Brayan is not a finished product. None of our guys are. We’ve got to meet them where they’re at and push them when needed. We worked on a few things with the sinker and the changeup. We thought it was the right time to bring the four-seam back. For him to go out and pitch the way he did in a one-run game and hold us there the whole way through was really impressive.”
Although there was a 2.1-inning blowup start sandwiched in between two quality starts, Brayan Bello is in the midst of a really solid stretch. With a record of 46-39, the Red Sox will look to keep stacking wins and make sure Bello plays a part in them.
