Brayan Bello is the most recent Boston Red Sox player to suffer an injury, as the right-hander exited Wednesday afternoon’s game against the Astros in Houston with a left groin strain.
Bello, who pitched just 2/3 of an inning at Minute Maid Park, was brought on in relief of starting pitcher Rich Hill in the fourth inning. Bello threw 19 pitches before walking off the mound and into the locker room with trainers.
“He got treatment after the game and we’ll know a little bit more tomorrow,” manager Alex Cora said after Boston was handed a 6-1 loss. “Obviously, he’s very important.”
Cora did indicate how Bello wanted to try and stay in the game for at least another out. Cora later noted how he hopes it’s nothing serious.
“I saw it actually right before that at-bat, he was stretching out,” Cora said. “Then he threw two pitches, he didn’t do much, and that one he stepped back. So, there was a catcher (Christian Vazquez) on the other side paying a lot of attention, too, and pointed and I was like ‘I got it, yeah,'” Cora said. “Hopefully it’s nothing serious, something that is X amount of days and he can be OK.”
Entering the series finale against the Astros, Cora hoped the combination of Hill and Bello would help the Red Sox reset their bullpen. The Red Sox manager hinted how best case scenario would be for Hill to go five innings and Bello close the game with the final four. Instead, the Red Sox were left using a third pitcher before the fifth inning started. Hill gave up four earned runs on six hits in three innings.
The development is even more unfortunate as Bello put together arguably his best appearance to-date last week against the Milwaukee Brewers. The rookie pitched four innings in relief while allowing two runs on four hits, giving Cora and the Red Sox confidence the 23-year-old was coming along.
Cora did not reveal any sort of concrete timetable for Bello’s return. However, he would be the latest in a long line of Red Sox players to have suffered an injury and head to the injured list. Chris Sale, Michael Wacha, Matt Barnes and Matt Strahm are among Boston’s pitchers who remain on the shelf with various injuries.
