What Went Wrong For Brayan Bello In 2026 Debut?
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Brayan Bello's 2026 season got off to a rocky start on Tuesday. The Boston Red Sox handed the ball to the righty against the Houston Astros, hoping to stop a three-game losing streak, but Bello took the loss in another rout.
It was trouble from the start, when Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena singled on the first pitch he saw. Yordan Alvarez followed it up with a double off the center field wall after falling behind 0-2, giving the Astros a one-run lead.
Coming into the year, Bello needed to find a way to add strikeouts to his game. In 2025, he struck out just 17.7% of the hitters he faced. On Tuesday, he only managed to punch out two hitters. Bello was able to get to two strikes against 11 of the 25 hitters he faced, but couldn't put them away.
Against lefties, he left fastballs over the plate, while his curveball wasn't close enough to the zone. He only threw two two-strike changeups against lefties, one of which went for a groundout. He commanded the slow ball well on Tuesday, a sign that he might turn to it more going forward.
Against righties, he went to his new curveball frequently, but couldn't locate close enough to the zone to make hitters expand the zone. His other pitches were sprayed outside the zone as well. To find success, he'll have to execute with two strikes to avoid letting opponents back in games.
If there's a positive to take away from the game for Bello, it's his cut fastball. He used the pitch 24% of the time against righties for 88% strikes, including five whiffs. His sinker only went for 56% strikes against righties, but has been over 65% strikes against righties in each of his first four seasons. If he can rein in the command, the two pitches can work well in tandem and help get righties out.
The loss was the Red Sox's fourth straight after beating the Cincinnati Reds on opening day. The Red Sox will give the ball to Garrett Crochet in the series finale on Wednesday afternoon.
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