How Alex Cora Summed Up Brayan Bello’s First Full Red Sox Season

Brayan Bello wrapped up his first full big league season with the Boston Red Sox in a 5-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.

Bello allowed five earned runs on nine hits with two walks and three strikeouts and took the loss in his final start of the season.

The 24-year-old starter finishes 2023 with a 12-11 record with a 4.24 ERA with 132 strikeouts in 157 innings.

“It wasn’t a great night for me,” Bello told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I had mistakes on a couple of pitches and they made me pay. Overall, it was a good outing. I got to throw six innings and finish the season strong.”

“I think the changeup wasn’t good today, so he needed to use the other stuff,” Alex Cora said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “He was OK, but obviously the result wasn’t there.”

Cora did challenge Bello to finish six innings during a mound visit with two outs in the frame. The young starter responded to get out of a jam and end his night without allowing further damage. With that, Cora noted an important step in his development.

“He had one more hitter and we was close to 100 pitches,” Cora explained. “You’ve got to finish this one. Starts like this are going to happen during the season. They’re bad in the line, but to go six is important throughout the season, right? You’re not going to be perfect. You’re not going to be dominant all the time. When you struggle like that, you’ve got to give us six and he did that.”

In a season of ups and downs, Cora was pleased with the first full year in Boston for Bello, who offers a future staple of the rotation.

“Overall, I think it was a good first full season at the big league level,” Cora said. “It’s not easy. One thing with him, and this is where the game is going is they’re going to load up lefties against him. We’ve got to find ways to attack them. If you look back, it was good overall. At one point, he was going seven every outing. He learned a lot. He got punched a few times the last two. Hopefully, this helps him through the offseason with the things he needs to work on.”

In the middle of the summer, Bello truly became a workhorse for the rotation, going at least six innings in eight of his nine starts between June and July.

Along with players such as Triston Casas, Jarren Duran and Connor Wong, Bello firmly established himself as a major piece of Boston’s future in a season of emerging youth.