The Red Sox can improve their home record to 8-4 on the season with another win tonight.
We’re less than a month of the way into the season, and the bottom of every AL East rotation has already proven to be a mess. This presents a race within a race as each team scrambles to get a serviceable No. 4 and No. 5 starter reliable enough so they’re able to play mere .500 baseball in those games. The first squad to pull that off likely has an inside track to the division title, although some have a lot more work to do in that regard than others.
Enter Brayan Bello, who makes his season debut for the Red Sox against the Mariners tonight at Fenway. Oddly, he also made his season debut against the Mariners last year, but under vastly different circumstances. A year ago, he was the Opening Day starter in Seattle, and was gunning to be the ace of the staff. This year, he spent the first three weeks of the season on the IL with a shoulder strain; and while the ceiling is still high, the Red Sox just need him to be a solid middle to upper rotation arm who can stay on the field to improve their depth. If they get that, and it starts tonight, it’s another building block for a team with high hopes that’s still in the process of coming together.
First Pitch: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: NESN
Radio: WEEI