Red Sox’ opener Tyler Samaniego melts in 4-3 loss to Guardians

Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox must make a decision on Brian Bellew.

The Boston Red Sox’ struggles continued in the first inning as they blitzed their opponents on Friday against the Cleveland Guardians.

Relief pitcher Tyler Samaniego was the difference for Boston, which opened in the first frame ahead of Brian Bellew. Samaniego allowed all four Cleveland runs in his debut. The Red Sox eventually lost, 4-3.

Bellew, who pitched the bullpen in four of his last five scheduled games, was studs the next seven innings. He did not allow one run or walk and struck out five.

“I feel really comfortable, really comfortable throwing every one of my pitches to strike out in any number,” Bellew said through an interpreter after the game. “I think that’s the most important thing for a pitcher, is to be comfortable on the mound and generally be comfortable throwing any pitch.”

Boston finds itself in a difficult situation with Bellew. The 27-year-old right-hander was so bad as a starter that the team decided to put an opener in front of him at the beginning of May.

In 30.2 innings as a starter this season, Bellew has a 9.68 ERA with a .370 batting average, 18 hits and a walk each, and 10 home runs.

Bellew has performed remarkably well in his new role — he has a 0.71 ERA, 22 strikeouts, and just three walks over 25.1 innings. But the pitcher who routinely comes in front of him doesn’t.

Interim manager Chad Tracy said after the game that it was impossible to understand why Bellew’s season went the way it did.

“I don’t know you can understand that.” Tracy said. “The most important thing to me now is that [Bello] Looks great. Also, not only did he look great, he had a swagger on the mound that we’ve seen in the past. I’m mostly very happy to see the way he threw the ball.

Jovanni Moran was the opener in Bello’s first three collegiate starts, but he allowed five earned runs across those games, paving the way for Samaniego Friday.

The Red Sox were hoping this experiment would finally work. Unfortunately for them, that didn’t happen.

Tracy admitted that managing Bello’s outings was difficult. The team is taking things day by day when deciding whether or not Bellew will start, but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to work out no matter how hard they try.

“It’s hard. It’s hard to know,” Tracy said. “You can’t ignore the fact that Bellew has been very successful at it (as a big man). Ultimately, having him in that way — in a starting role — will be great.

“We’re still trying, you know. We had some of those games where we didn’t get off to the best start, and then he comes in second.”

Bellew said he wants to put himself in a position to return to being a full-time starter.

“I’m in a position where I want to prove that I can start and that I can do my five or six roles on top of that,” he said. “And what better way to do that than with the role I was given: making the most of it and putting in zeros.”

The opening situation in Bellew’s days is not a long-term solution. The opening, whatever it is, keeps fluttering; This also leads to a short-handed game. Not having one arm in the pen by the start of the first half doesn’t help with Garrett Whitlock being on the injured list.

It’s not a good place for Bellew to be either, as he can’t provide much support for the rest of his career. The organization must decide what to do with Bello for the benefit of the entire team arsenal and the individual at the center of the situation.

Back on the field, Boston found itself in a 4-0 hole until the fifth inning when its offense came alive. Marcelo Mayer, Caleb Durbin, and Jarren Duran each drove in a run in their back-to-back hits to get the Red Sox within one.

As had been the case all year, the bats went silent the rest of the way, resulting in a 4-3 loss. Boston left seven runners on base and batted 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

The defeat moved the Red Sox to 10 games under .500 (23-33) for the first time since 2020. They have lost six of their last seven games, remaining in last place in the American League East, and five games back of the third wild-card spot.