Brayan Bello earned his demotion. He’s also earned his way back, and might be just what the Red Sox need.
LOS ANGELES — Maybe it’s Brayan Bello who will prove to be the biggest midseason addition for the Red Sox.
The righthander pitched four scoreless innings in Friday night’s 9-4 victory against the Dodgers, saving the high-leverage relievers for the final two games of the series.
Bello is not an addition to the Red Sox, of course. He was recalled from Triple-A Worcester on July 12 after being demoted back to the minors on June 5 with an unsightly 6.34 earned run average.
The 27-year-old righthander has appeared in only three games since, but those three appearances were impressive. Bello allowed one run on nine hits over 13⅔ innings while striking out 13 and walking two.
His latest contribution against the Dodgers was game-changing. Bello came out of the bullpen in the sixth inning with the Sox trailing, 4-3. He held the hard-hitting Dodgers down from there, allowing three singles.
By nailing down the final 12 outs, Bello gave Aroldis Chapman, Garrett Whitlock, and the other high-leverage relievers a night off as the Sox won for the 21st time in 24 games.
“Huge,” interim manager Chad Tracy said. “Obviously our bullpen’s heavily used and a little beat up right now. Because when you win that many games over that period of time, those guys are used a lot.”
Now there’s a first-world baseball problem.
Whether it’s as a long reliever or spot starter, Bello could be an important piece the final two months of the season.
Lefthanders Jake Bennett and Payton Tolle are key in the rotation for the Sox. Bennett has thrown 105 innings this season, counting nine starts with Worcester. His career high was 117 innings at Oklahoma back in 2022.
Tolle is up to 110 innings, the most in his career at any level.
Patrick Sandoval has allowed seven earned runs over 19 innings in four starts since returning from a two-year absence because of Tommy John surgery. The lefthander has shown promise, but it’s difficult to gauge how many innings he can provide.
Tolle started Saturday night’s game against the Dodgers, and Bennett is scheduled for the series finale on Sunday. If the Sox stay in order, Sandoval would face the White Sox on Tuesday at Fenway Park.
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At some point, the Sox will have to manage how many more innings Tolle and Webster throw while keeping an eye on Sandoval. Bello seems sure to play a big role in that.
He has pitched 93⅓ innings. That’s well off his career high of 183 last season, which counts the postseason and four minor-league starts.
The Sox have used him sparingly in that long relief role, only three times over 20 days. They could increase that frequency by using him as a sixth starter on occasion, or having Bennett and/or Tolle make shorter starts with Bello going four or five innings in relief.
The Sox have 16 games in as many days starting Tuesday. There will be some creativity along the way.
Carlos Narváez, who has caught Bello seven times this season, sees a different pitcher than the one who was demoted in June.
“Throwing strikes and working hard between games. He embraced the challenge,” Narváez said. “It’s cool to see him back on the biggest stage and pitching well against a really good lineup like the Dodgers have. We needed that.”
Bello earned his demotion. He was pitching poorly and showed little willingness to change what wasn’t working. Five weeks in the minors seem to have fixed both problems.
“Every time I go out there, I try and do my job, and I feel very good with the opportunity the team has given me,” Bello said via an interpreter. “I don’t think I’ve changed anything in my mechanics. I’ve just been trying to throw the ball in the strike zone more.”
Bello was 37-28 with a 4.02 ERA over 87 games from 2023-25. He’s capable. As the Sox search for pitching depth ahead of Monday afternoon’s trade deadline, maybe the answer is already in their clubhouse.
“We’re winning,” Bello said. “We’re healthy, and I think we have the ability to get to the World Series. We are really tight.”
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