Brayan Bello’s ‘horrible day’ for Red Sox included clear message from Alex Cora during mound visit

TL;DR

Brayan Bello had a disastrous outing for the Red Sox, giving up five homers and 13 hits in just 10 outs. Manager Alex Cora visited him on the mound to encourage him to maintain a competitive mindset despite the struggles.

Key points

Brayan Bello allowed five home runs in his start
Alex Cora visited Bello to address his body language
The Red Sox lost to the Orioles 10-3
Bello's performance included 13 hits and only 10 outs
Cora plans to address the team's issues in the coming days

Brayan BelloLeody TaverasBoston Red SoxBaltimore Orioles

BALTIMORE — When Alex Cora visited Brayan Bello on the mound in the third inning Friday night, it wasn’t to pull the righty, who had already given up four Orioles homers. It was because Cora saw poor body language from Bello after a one-out walk to Leody Taveras — and wanted to get a message across.

“The reason I went to the mound was like, ‘We don’t need to put the head down,’” Cora said after a 10-3 Red Sox loss. “We’re here to compete, be prepared. We go out there and do our best. Regardless of the situation, you’ve got to keep competing and he actually did. I’ll give him that. But we’ve got to figure it out.”

At Camden Yards, Bello had the worst start of his career Friday. He allowed three homers on the first 13 pitches he threw — and five in total. He allowed 13 hits and got just 10 outs. The Orioles hit nine balls off Bello at 100 mph or harder and he departed with Boston trailing 8-1 in the fourth inning.

Cora vowed that the Red Sox will address what went wrong in the coming days. In the moment, though, the priority was to keep a despondent Bello engaged.

“He was getting hit hard. Very hard...,” Cora said. “There, it gets to the point of, ‘How long can we go with him?’ Just making sure we keep the pitch count up, but at the same time, the confidence.

“I just wanted to make sure. I told (pitching coach Andrew Bailey), ‘My bad.’ I usually don’t do that unless I’m upset at somebody. In this case, it was more about ‘Hey man, we’ve got to keep going. We need you.’ We need Brayan Bello to be good.”

Bello appreciated it.

“When I got that walk, I lost my confidence a little bit and he came right out and reinstated that confidence back up,” Bello said through interpreter Carlos Villoria Benítez. “Just motivated me to keep going.”

The Orioles likely wanted Bello to keep going, too, after an early barrage on a nice night in Baltimore. After the Red Sox went down in order in the first, the fireworks began in the bottom of the inning. led off with a no-doubt blast. singled, then launched the first of his two homers. Two batters later, it was ’ turn to make it 4-0 just 13 pitches into the game.