Brayan Bello entered the Boston Red Sox's Labor Day in the first inning to passionate applause from fans, but they had no idea what was coming. Bello hadn't made a traditional start since June 4 and his long stint in the minor leagues and bullpen gave fans justifiable pause about his return to the rotation, where he carried a 10-plus ERA earlier this season.
Against the Los Angeles Angels, Bello got through the first inning unscathed, a massive step for the righty — he has a 14.46 ERA across 10 first innings this season (subscription required). Despite some traffic, he also got through the second and third innings without a run scoring.
Bello's day finished after the fifth inning. He didn't allow a run on four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts, his best start of the year by far. His timing couldn't be better.
Boston's rotation has shown fatigue in recent weeks. Sonny Gray needed his first start of September skipped to give him extra rest and Ranger Suarez has only just started looking like himself again after a few off weeks following an injury. Elite pitching has kept the Red Sox alive all season, including early on when their offense wasn't giving nearly enough support, and the starters' exhaustion showed in many of their recent games — the Red Sox allowed eight or more runs in their five games from August 29-September 2.
Brayan Bello returns to form in Red Sox's rotation at perfect time
Brayan Bello on his outing against the Angels, in his first start since June 4th 👀
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The Sox have had a wild and improbable season in many respects, mostly because of the rare 15-game winning streak and 30-5 stretch in July and August that shot them straight into the heart of the playoff conversation. But Bello's struggles have been stranger — before Labor Day, he couldn't hold it together in the rotation but utterly dominated out of the bullpen. He's clocked a 9.07 ERA over 40.2 innings of work as a starter and a 2.03 ERA over 62 frames as a reliever.
If Bello can stay hot, he may be able to take a rotation spot back from Patrick Sandoval, who is still bouncing back from UCL surgery, or Jake Bennett, a rookie with nearly 100 innings on his arm this season. Even if Boston doesn't return him to a full-time starter workload, he could still dominate out of the bullpen as he's done for much of the season. Garrett Crochet and Tanner Houck are expected to join him there soon as long relief depth.
Bello was one of the best, if not the best reliever in baseball during his tenure in the bullpen. If the Red Sox return him to the rotation and he successfully replicates his success in relief, he could be the best rotation addition they could ask for in their postseason push.
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