What Brayan Bello said after abysmal start vs. Orioles

Boston Red Sox

Bellew has a team-worst 9.00 ERA through six starts.

Friday was the continuation of an ugly stretch of baseball for the Boston Red Sox.

After being swept by the New York Yankees at Fenway Park, the Red Sox fell to the Baltimore Orioles 10-3 on the road in their series opener.

Surprisingly, the story of Boston’s fourth straight loss was not its stagnant offense. She collected 10 hits on the night, one of which was a solo home run by right-hander Wilier Abreu in the second inning.

Instead, the main takeaway was Red Sox outfielder Brian Bellew’s abysmal outing. He allowed three home runs in the first inning alone (on just 13 pitches) and went on to give up two more in his 3.1 innings start.

The Red Sox found themselves in a 4-0 first inning hole that made the game look insurmountable. It was the same for Boston, which has already seen its fair share of terrible first innings through its starters in just 26 games.

Bellew’s final streak was rough: 3.1 innings, 13 hits (five of which were home runs), eight earned runs, a walk, and two strikeouts on 85 total pitches (54 strikeouts). His ERA rose to 9.00 through six starts on the season (22.0 innings), a team-worst.

Bellew was asked after the game if Friday represented his toughest game yet. He said it was.

“I would say so,” Bellew said through a translator after the match. “A lot of hard contact, a lot of home runs. I’ve never been able to throw a scoreless inning, so I’ll say that.”

Bellew handed it to the Orioles offense. She finished the night with a season-high 20 hits.

“They had a good game and there’s nothing you can do about it now,” Bellew said.

Bellew, 26, has been hit hard, as his stats indicate. The right-hander lofted a bag of rosin between batters at one point, prompting manager Alex Cora to visit him on the mound to chat, but not taking him out of the game. It’s a rare sight to see Cora visit the Hill without a change in presentation.

Bello appreciated Korra coming out to talk to him. Bello said Cora helped calm him down as he struggled to get the strikers out.

“Yes, very much,” Bello said when asked if the meeting was positive. “I think when I walked in, I lost a little bit of confidence, but he came out right away and brought that confidence back and motivated me to keep going.”

Cora said He wanted to talk to Bellew on the mound in an attempt to salvage the pitcher’s confidence.

“The reason I went to the mound was, ‘We don’t need to keep our heads down, right?’ We’re here to compete, prepare, and go out there our best. No matter what the situation is, you have to keep competing.” And he did that. I give him that, but we have to find out.

“He was hit hard, very hard… [The meeting] It was about, ‘Man, we’ve got to keep going.’ We need you. We need Brian Bellew to be good.

Bellew also threw his glove at the bullpen in the dugout out of frustration once he was taken out of the contest midway through the fourth inning.

When Brian Bellew reached the dugout, he lifted his glove out of the gum container several times.

I haven’t seen him lose like that in a while. Just awesome vibes. pic.twitter.com/KK7nZGJ9VQ

– Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) April 25, 2026

Cora said the Red Sox will likely make Bellew his next scheduled start. Bellew has two minor league options remaining, according to FanGraphs.

“I think we’ll stay the course with him,” Cora said. “We have a few days to work and watch.”