Red Sox Notes: Alex Cora Feels Brayan Bello Flying Under MLB Radar

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora believes Brayan Bello has flown under the radar across Major League Baseball this season.

More performances like Bello had Friday night against the Toronto Blue Jays certainly will grab him more attention, though.

While Blue Jays starter José Berríos outdueled Bello in a 3-0 win for Toronto at Rogers Centre, the Red Sox youngster was still exceptional. He allowed three runs on four hits in six innings while issuing one walk and recording a career-high 10 strikeouts.

“Throughout the season, he’s been our most consistent starter,” Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “Not too many people are talking about him throughout the league, but when you look up the innings and the W’s and the ERA and all that stuff, it has been a solid season for him.”

Bello ended up only making one true mistake in his outing, which came in the bottom of the third inning against Vladimir Guerrero Jr. After Bello walked Bo Bichette with two outs, he offered a fastball middle-middle on the first pitch to Guerrero, who tagged it 400 feet for a three-run homer.

But that’s the only time the Blue Jays got to Bello and he got back to mowing down Toronto’s vaunted lineup by striking out the side in his final frame of work.

“If you take away Vladdy’s pitch, my outing was great,” Bello told reporters through a translator, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “I was able to locate the pitches where I wanted to. I think overall, it was a great outing for me.”

Bello’s showing also allowed him to reflect on where he is at in his young career. Bello made his final start as a rookie in Toronto last season. And nearly a year later, Bello has plenty of evidence that he’s not the same pitcher as he was then. He leads the Red Sox in wins (12), innings pitched (148) and ERA (3.71).

“When you look back a year ago and you see where I am right now, I improved in a lot of areas,” Bello said. “One of the things I wanted to improve was to not allow runs. But that’s going to come with time. I think overall, if you take where I was a year ago and where I am right now, I’m in a really good position, and happy where I am right now.”

Cora still sees room for Bello to continue to grow. And the Red Sox skipper wouldn’t mind if Bello’s trajectory looks similar to that of his counterpart in Berríos, who turned in back-to-back All-Star campaigns in his third and fourth seasons in the big leagues.

“José was a kid when he got with the Twins, and now, he’s one of the dudes over there with the Jays,” Cora said. “So, hopefully we can keep working with Brayan, keep making him better, attack the season the right way, do certain things in the offseason and be ready for next year.”

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Here are more notes from Friday’s Red Sox-Blue Jays game:

— Berríos was outstanding against the Red Sox, tossing seven shutout innings, letting up five hits and no walks while striking out eight. Cora walked away from the loss certainly impressed by what Berríos displayed.

“That was probably the best I’ve seen him throughout the years,” Cora said.

— Even though the Red Sox had a lackluster offensive production, they actually out-hit the Blue Jays, 5-4.

— Every member of the Red Sox lineup struck out at least once, except for Rafael Devers, who put together an 0-for-4 showing. Masataka Yoshida continued to struggle with three strikeouts.

— Ceddanne Rafaela was a late addition to the lineup with Triston Casas being scratched and he extended his hitting streak to four games. Rafaela, who is batting .357, now has reached base in 10 of the 14 games he has played in since being called up.

— The Red Sox and Blue Jays continue their three-game series Saturday. First pitch from Rogers Centre is scheduled for 3:07 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.