Brayan Bello leads the Red Sox to series victory over the Marlins with the longest start of the season

Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Brayan Bello throws during the first inning of a game against the Miami Marlins on Wednesday in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

All eyes were on Brayan Bello as he took the mound in Miami on Wednesday night.

That’s been the case since spring training, when the Red Sox gave him a generous contract extension before arbitration. But that vote of confidence has only heightened concerns about Bello’s struggles this season.

When he went on the injured list after playing on April 19, he had a 3.04 ERA in his first five starts. Since being activated on May 12, he had a 7.05 ERA in nine starts (through Wednesday). When manager Alex Cora announced last week that Bello’s start would be postponed, it was guaranteed that the young right-hander would be in the spotlight even more.

The Marlins may be one of MLB’s basement kids this year, but it was encouraging to see Bello go 6.2 innings, his longest start of the season, and pitch Boston to a 7-2 victory and series win. For the first time since April 19 – when he pitched six scoreless innings at Pittsburgh in his last start before being placed on the injured list – the right-hander allowed no more than one (earned) run. He held Miami to seven hits, one walk and seven strikeouts.

“No hesitation in using him in the seventh round,” Cora said. “He’s one of our best and we need to get him going and today was a good day.”

The Red Sox starter’s night began on shaky ground. He allowed back-to-back singles from Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Bryan De La Cruz, but then gave the Marlins an early 1-0 lead with a one-out single from Jesús Sánchez.

Bello did not let himself be deterred and worked his way out of the difficulties he had gotten himself into.

“He did a good job of responding the way we wanted him to in the first inning. They came out swinging, they had their hits, but he stayed on offense,” Cora told reporters. “Base hits, equal traffic, but he kept throwing strikes and that’s the most important thing. … He went out and performed.”

Bello threw 91 pitches, including 61 strikes. He relied heavily on his sinker (36%) and changeup (30%), and mixed in a fair amount of sliders (22%). It was an encouraging sign that five of the 11 swings and misses Bello caused were due to his changeup; it’s a key weapon for him, but he’s struggled to use it this year.

“His stuff was really good, he threw hard, the changeup was probably his best of the season,” his manager said.

Bello pulled out all the stops and used his four-seam fastball for the first time this year.

“We talked about it. He actually brought it up earlier in the week,” Cora said. “If he feels comfortable with it, we’ll use it. I think he picked his spots. The location was really good. And it’s a pitch that we didn’t use in the beginning, and he felt like he needed it. We’ll pick our spots to use it.”

The fact that Bello got by with virtually no run support during his time on the mound made the performance all the more impressive. Boston beat Miami 12-9 and managed seven walks to one from the Marlins, but also struck out 11 times and mostly failed to capitalize on his opportunities. In the first seven innings, the Red Sox left at least one man on base in every inning, struck out 4 of 16 runners in scoring position and left 11 standing. Overall, they were 5 of 20 RISPs and left 12 on base.

Trevor Rogers’ night started more surely than Bello’s, but his lead would be short-lived. The Marlins starter collected five strikeouts and kept the Red Sox three runners on the bench in the first two innings. He was on the mound, however, when Connor Wong opened the second inning with a single. In addition to being Boston’s first hitter, Wong extended his MLB hitting streak to 17 games, tying Carlton Fisk for the third-longest hitting streak by a catcher in franchise history. Wong quickly stole second base, but neither he nor Masataka Yoshida (single) could score.

The third inning was a different story. Batters 1-8 came to bat and the Red Sox took a 2-1 lead on RBI singles from Rafael Devers and Yoshida. Rogers needed 41 pitches to get through the inning, and although he got Dom Smith to strike out to leave the bases loaded, his night was over. Three innings into the game, the Marlins had to resort to their already weak pitching staff.

“It’s about passing the baton to the guy behind you,” said Yoshida (translated), who hit 2-for-4 with one run, two RBIs, one walk and one strikeout. He has a .440 batting average with a 1.020 OPS in his last seven games.

“We did a good job of throwing long at-bats,” Cora said. “Getting into the bullpen that early is what we’re trying to do. We worked hard today and got the win.”

The Red Sox scored a few more runs in the ninth inning. Ceddanne Rafaela hit a triple in the sixth inning, and Devers followed in the ninth. With an RBI triple, the third baseman tied his career high of four this season (set in 2019). It’s the club’s first game with multiple triples since August 11, 2021. And when Yoshida and Smith drew back-to-back walks to join Devers on the field, Rafaela hit a double at third base to bring them all home.

“When he’s patient and doesn’t swing 75% of the time, good things happen,” Cora said of Rafaela, reminding everyone that the standout defensive player is only 23 years old and a rookie.

Chris Martin threw a scoreless eighth inning, aided by a superman catch by Rob Refsnyder. Overall, the outfield defense continues to be excellent; Duran and O’Neill took turns contributing to their own highlight reels throughout the evening, while Rafaela started at shortstop.

“We have newcomers,” Cora said of his team in the outfield. “We’ve talked about it from the beginning. We have some good players and it’s very different from last year.”

As the innings drew to a close, Kenley Jansen and Greg Weissert warmed up in the visitors’ bullpen. When the Red Sox scored four runs in the ninth inning to extend their lead to 7-1, Cora was able to send Weissert to the mound and give his closer some extra rest before their weekend at Yankee Stadium. Weissert allowed a leadoff triple and the Marlins were able to score a run all over the board before the rookie right-hander tied the game.

The Red Sox are 46-39, a season high of seven games over .500. They have won their last three games and are 5-1-4 in their last ten series. They play the finale on July 4 at 1:10 p.m., after which they travel to the Bronx.