Brayan Bello will now try to figure things out in Worcester

Following the Red Sox’s 8-2 loss to the Orioles, interim manager Chad Tracy was asked six different questions about Brayan Bello.

Half of his answers included the same three words:

“I don’t know.”

At this point, there are far more questions than answers when it comes to Bello.

Is it a mental thing when it comes to pitching as a start vs. as a bulk reliever? Should the Red Sox continue to give him chances as a starter?

What we do know is that Bello's next move will be with Triple-A Worcester, which is where the Red Sox have optioned the pitcher. It was a move first reported by WBZ-TV and later confirmed by a major-league source. Jake Bennett, who has gone 3-2 with a 1.60 ERA in Worcester, would seem a likely candidate to replace Bello in the rotation.

Amid all the questions surrounding his future, the 27-year-old $55 million pitcher made one thing clear: He still views himself as a starter.

“Just stop talking about the bullpen and starting games. I’ve always been a starter. And when I’ve been successful as a starter, no one has questioned whether I have to be in the bullpen or starting games,” Bello said through an interpreter. “So, starting from there, just stop that talk because I’m just having a bad season. That’s it. It’s not whether I’m a starter or I’m a reliever. I’m just having a bad season. But I know I can turn it around. I always have. And I think I will.”

The Red Sox want to believe that, too.

Hours before Bello’s latest implosion, Tracy reiterated the club’s stance.

“For us to be successful, we need Bello to start,” said the interim manager. “I mean, we’ve beaten a dead horse with this. Like, we start him, it doesn’t go well. The opener doesn’t do well. Why did you open? It’s like, at the end of the day, we need this guy to pitch.”

That belief is getting harder to justify.

Bello faced 12 batters in the first inning alone on Thursday. He allowed six earned runs on five hits and three walks. He now owns a 16.88 ERA in the first inning this season (15 ER / 8.0 IP). Only three of his eight starts have featured a scoreless opening frame, and the six earned runs he allowed in the first inning marked a career-high for an opening inning. He threw 40 pitches, only 22 of them for strikes.

As he often has this season, Bello settled in after the first inning, retiring nine straight hitters from the second through fourth innings. But by then, the damage had already been done.

He finished with 5.0 innings pitched, allowing seven hits, eight earned runs, four walks, and three strikeouts as the Red Sox fell to 1-6 in his starts this season.

“You see some of the work show up in the subsequent innings after that — started jumping in the zone, getting ahead, all of a sudden the strike percentage climbs, so you see some of that,” Tracy said. “But obviously, the first inning is big enough where the damage is done at that point.”

At this point, every question surrounding Bello is fair.

In eight games as a traditional starter this season, he owns a 10.35 ERA (41 ER / 35.2 IP), the worst mark in the majors among starters with at least 20 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting .365 against him. He has allowed 10 home runs and issued 21 walks.

In four appearances behind an opener, however, Bello has posted a 0.71 ERA (2 ER / 25.1 IP), with opponents batting just .215 against him. He has issued only three walks and allowed one home run.

The problem is, the Red Sox haven’t been able to make the opener strategy work.

In three of Bello’s four relief appearances, he entered the game trailing. In two of those games, he inherited a multi-run deficit. The openers — Jovani Moran and Tyler Samaniego — have allowed at least one run in all four games and multiple runs in three of them.

The one game in which Bello entered with a lead — May 5 in Detroit — didn’t go smoothly either. Moran allowed two runs in the top of the first, but the Red Sox responded with three in the bottom half to erase the deficit. It remains the only game Boston has won with Bello used in relief this season.

“I don’t think so,” Bello said when asked if it could be a potential thing. “I don’t really know what’s going on. I think I have the same mentality whether I’m starting or relieving. So, honestly, I don’t know.”

That may be the most telling answer of all.

The Red Sox have a Brayan Bello problem, and nobody seems entirely sure what the solution is. For now, they will try a stint in Worcester, an option the pitcher clearly wasn't hoping for when talking immediately after Thursday's game.

“I’m not thinking about that. I’m thinking about making my adjustments in the big leagues. I have a big league contract. That doesn’t mean that the bosses will not take that into consideration, but I’m a big leaguer,” he said. “I’m a big league starting pitcher, and I’ll make my adjustments here.”