Despite a rocky beginning to his season and a rough end to April that included a controversial public show of emotions, Boston Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy trusted Brayan Bello to make his next start against the Detroit Tigers.
Granted, Tracy didn't have much of a choice — Johan Oviedo, Sonny Gray and Garrett Crochet were all on the injured list at the time, and top prospects Payton Tolle and Jake Bennett had already been called up to start in their steads. But Bello proved Tracy was right to keep him in the rotation with a slight change in his role.
Jovani Morán opened Boston's May 5 outing against the Tigers at Comerica Park to give Bello a bit of a head start. Morán allowed two runs on three hits and two walks with two strikeouts in his brief, one-inning start. Bello's appearance began in the second inning and he looked like a completely different pitcher from just six days before.
Bello held the Tigers to one run on four hits and a walk with seven strikeouts over seven innings. The outing is easily Bello's best of the year — it's the first time he's logged more than five strikeouts in an appearance and just the second time he's lasted more than five innings.
Red Sox, Brayan Bello thrived with Jovani Morán on the mound as an opener
Tracy figured that giving Bello a push to the back of the batting order would give him an advantage, and that might've been the case. The righty has gotten off to a poor start early in many of his appearances this year and he's logged a 9.00 ERA over six first innings. Lefties have a .366 batting average against Bello this season and Morán's one-inning opening bid got through southpaws Kevin McGonigle and Riley Greene before Bello entered the game in the second frame.
Bello also entered the game with much more run support, and therefore less pressure, than he's used to having in his other starts. The Red Sox average just over four runs per game (through 36 games) and Ceddanne Rafaela's early three-run homer heroics on May 5 gave Boston a 3-2 lead before Bello ever took the mound.
Maybe Tracy discovered the secret that could unlock the best of Bello for the rest of the season, or maybe run support really matters. Two things could also be true. But Bello's next few outings could determine whether or not he remains in the starting rotation among stiff competition from multiple injured players, and if he keeps pitching as well as he did against the Tigers, he could make the choice much harder on Tracy and Andrew Bailey.
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