“We’re not great, we’re not bad. We are where we’re at,” Alex Cora said following Tuesday night’s loss to the Miami Marlins. Even after being swept by the Marlins in Thursday night’s 2-0 loss at Fenway Park, as the Sox dropped their fifth consecutive game, the manager’s words remain true.
They aren’t great, but they aren’t bad.
That has been the story of the 2023 Red Sox thus far, and while it’s easy to point to the negatives right now with the team sitting two games under .500 and riding a season-long-five game losing skid, we were reminded of a reason for optimism on Thursday night.
Let’s go back almost a year ago – July 6, 2022. The Red Sox were set to take on the Tampa Bay Rays in the final game of a three game set. Red Sox nation was buzzing with excitement over the major league debut of highly touted prospect Brayan Bello.
Things didn’t go as planned for the then 24-year old. Bello would throw four innings, allowing four earned runs off six hits, in a game the Red Sox would lose 7-1. After a couple of trips up and down from triple A Worcester, Bello would finish his rookie campaign 2-8 with a 4.71 ERA.
Flash forward to now. With so many questions surrounding Boston’s pitching staff, the Sox needed someone to step up. Bello has been that guy.
Though he was handed the loss, the 25 year-old hurler delivered another phenomenal outing for the Sox on Thursday night, tossing seven no-hit innings against the fish, before his no-hit bid was broken up on a Jean Segura infield single to leadoff the eighth.
Prior to the Marlins finding some offense in the eighth inning, Bello impressed with his composure and ability to work around trouble early on. After Jazz Chisholm reached second base on an error from first baseman Justin Turner in the second, Bello was able to prevent the speedy Chisholm from scoring, retiring the next three Marlins he faced.
The very next inning, after walking the eight hitter, Jesús Sánchez, Bello was able to get the catcher Nick Fortes to roll into a 4-6-3 double play on a 93.3 MPH sinker down low. Bello helped himself again the very next plate appearance, snagging a 99.3 MPH line drive off the bat of Luis Arraez, and making it look easy.
Bello finished the night allowing just two hits, one earned run, and striking out five, retiring 20 of the 24 batters he faced. In his last 20 ⅔ innings, Bello has allowed just three earned runs.
“Excellent… Everything we asked for,” Cora said on Bello’s performance postgame.
“He’s really good, and he’s getting better,” the manager added.
