Red Sox Notes: Home-Run Ball Hurts Brayan Bello Vs. Athletics

The Boston Red Sox dropped Wednesday’s matinee to the Oakland Athletics, 6-5, in the series finale. Oakland took two games out of three to win the series.

After a string of strong starts, Brayan Bello allowed six earned runs, which was a career-high, in four innings. The Athletics posted all six of their runs in those innings on a trio of two-run home runs from JJ Bleday, Cody Thomas and Jace Peterson. It was the first time Bello allowed three home runs in his major league career.

“I suffered the consequences,” Bello said via a translator, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage.

“They usually don’t hit the ball out of the ballpark,” Alex Cora told reporters on NESN’s postgame coverage. “They did. The control wasn’t great. The changeup wasn’t good early on. They did a good job offensively.”

“It’s a work in progress. It’s a pitch that he keeps working on because he needs it.”

Alex Cora on Bello’s fastball

Among the Oakland home runs, left-handed batters did damage against Bello’s four-seam fastball. Hitters have had success against the pitch this season as Bello continues to develop the four-seamer.

“We’re just developing a new pitch to go up against the left-handers,” Bello added. “I need that pitch to be able to set up my other pitches.”

Cora agrees that Bello needs to make adjustments with his fastball.

“It’s a work in progress,” Cora said. “It’s a pitch that he keeps working on because he needs it.”

Here are more notes from Wednesday’s Red Sox-Athletics game:

— The Red Sox move to 11-8 against the American League West but are just 1-5 on the road against the division.

— Masataka Yoshida hit his third double in the last two games to close out the series.

— Oakland committed four errors in the game, two of which came on missed pickoff attempts to first base. Connor Wong and Adam Duvall each advanced from first base to third on the errant attempts.

— Kenley Jansen made his 800th major league appearance in the game and his first outing since Friday against the Chicago Cubs. Jansen is the only active player in the majors with 800 career appearances, per Red Sox senior manager of media relations and baseball information J.P. Long.

— The Red Sox finished their six-game road trip coming out of the All-Star break at 3-3.

“Not great, to be honest with you,” Cora said when assessing the road trip. “(Tuesday) the kid threw the ball well. Today, obviously, Bello wasn’t his usual. But right now where we’re at, 3-3, it’s OK.”

— The Red Sox return to Fenway Park on Friday to begin a three-game series with the New York Mets. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus 90 minutes of pregame coverage, on NESN.