NEW YORK — Entering Friday, Red Sox right-hander Brayan Bello had a 5.93 ERA over his last five outings. A matchup against a team he has always dominated served as the perfect antidote.
Bello once again dominated the Yankees, holding New York to one run on six hits in six innings in an 8-3 Red Sox win in the opener of a three-game series at Yankee Stadium. In five career starts against the Yankees, Bello owns a 1.45 ERA (5 earned runs in 21 innings) while striking out 25 batters and holding Yankees hitters to a .212 average. Among pitchers who have started at least five games against New York, Bello actually has the lowest ERA of the live ball era.
Bello has now beaten the Yankees three times this season, including twice at Yankee Stadium. Armed with an early 7-0 lead after the Sox ambushed starter Jhony Brito with two straight big innings to start the game, Bello cruised again.
“He has stepped up big against them,” said outfielder Alex Verdugo, who had three hits (including two doubles). “He likes the big games, man. He’s a good pitcher. Lot of confidence. He knows his stuff, what’s his strengths, and he pitches to them really well.”
In his second season of big league action, Bello seemed to have hit a bit of a wall after a dominant stretch in May and June. In 12 starts from April 29 to June 5, he posted a 2.35 ERA while recording 62 strikeouts in 72 ⅔ innings with the Red Sox winning eight of his outings. Since the All-Star break, things have been bumpier with opposing teams tagging the 23-year-old for three or more runs in five of six starts. Bello had allowed 10 homers in 40 ⅓ innings since July 1.
The Red Sox never expressed worry about their tantalizing young righty during his rough patch and were able to breathe a bit of a sigh of relief Friday night.
“He’s good against everybody,” said manager Alex Cora. “I think we get caught up sometimes on (him giving up) three runs in six innings. The lefties are hitting him and all that but it’s part of the progression. He’s still learning and he’s good. Today, he did a good job finding the strike zone after we got the lead and gave us six strong innings to put us in a good spot.”
Bello benefited from an early offensive explosion by the Sox. The club scored four times before Brito recorded an out as Masataka Yoshida’s three-run shot (his first since July 25) broke things open. In the second inning, four straight batters singled to make it a 7-0 game.
“I felt a little bit relaxed with that lead, seven runs after two innings,” Bello said through interpreter Carlos Villoria Benítez. “It was really good. My mindset changed completely, just to try to attack batters. I tried to get out of the innings as quickly as I could so I get the guys back to hit.”
Bello barely ran into trouble, with the lone damage against him coming in the third when Anthony Volpe doubled and came around to score on a D.J. LeMahieu RBI groundout. Bello allowed just one extra-base hit and departed after recording 18 outs on 98 pitches.
“I feel really comfortable with that mound… The mound is nice, although the ballpark is small in a couple places, so I don’t want anybody to hit it that way. I feel like that’s the reason why I pitch so well here,” he said.
Bello’s outing was a tone-setter after two tough losses in Washington. The Red Sox will look to keep rolling Saturday but face a challenge with ace Gerrit Cole set to pitch for the Yankees opposite Kutter Crawford.
“It feels good to be able to bounce back like that,” Bello said. “I know the last few starts haven’t bene really good for me and to be able to go deep into the game and throw six here is really important for me. I’m happy I was able to help the team get the win.”
