One of the problems the Boston Red Sox had coming into the season was that they had too many starting pitchers. Well, with injuries, they lost two starters, on top of having a starter that has completely lost his groove. Fans could probably guess who that is.

My Hottest Take: It Should Have Happened Sooner

When one of the starting pitchers has a 16.88 earned run average (ERA) in the first inning, there is a problem. Yes, that is a correct stat. Red Sox starting pitcher Brayan Bello has the unfortunate title of the worst ERA in the league when he is coming out as a starter. He has a 10.35 ERA when he starts the game. But for whatever reason, he just seems like he is unable to throw in the first inning. Once he gets past the first, he can be lights out, which is the confusing part.

It makes sense why they waited as long as they did; however, the demotion should have happened at least two to three starts ago. No starter wants to get demoted from the majors to the minor league team. But as soon as Bello was showing he did not have the control he used to have, there had to be something going on internally or externally. Bello has just not seemed like the starter he was last year, at least when he came in during the first inning.

You Should Know: Sox Did Not Have An Opener to Continue the Bullpen Relief

If the Red Sox had a designated opener in the bullpen, none of this would have happened. Bello could have continued fixing whatever was going on by coming in during the second inning and then have gotten back to trusting his pitches once again. Since the Sox do not have a designated starter, and would rather not be starting the game already down one or two to nothing, they needed to keep trying to give Bello the ball in the first.

Unfortunately, he is posting a 16.88 ERA in the first inning. In his seven starts as a traditional starter, not the June 4 start, he has a 9.68 ERA, ten homers, 18 walks and a 0.370 batting average against. In the 4 games that he came in behind an opener, he has a 0.71 ERA, zero homers, three walks and a 0.215 batting average against. This just doesn’t make sense. How do you go from an almost 10 ERA to under a 1 ERA?

Before You Go: Breslow wants Bello to “fall in love with baseball again.”

The way it seems, the demotion is more to get Bello to land back on his feet. Something is not clicking in his head, whether that is the pressure he is putting on himself or whatever it may be. Bello is not the same Bello of last year. Bello getting frustrated with the media after his second start getting rocked by the Baltimore Orioles definitely did not help the decision to send him down to the Worcester Red Sox.

Obviously, this puts the Red Sox in a bit of a bind as they currently only have four starters. The three starting pitchers that are on the injured list will not return to the team until July at the earliest, unless Patrick Sandoval shows that he can build up quickly to a starter workload, which he started on June 5. It will be interesting to see how long Bello will stay down in Worcester. Will he be there for the rest of the season, or once Garrett Crochet, Sandoval or even Kutter Crawford gets back, will they send down Payton Tolle to bring Bello back up? If the Red Sox were smart about it, they should keep Bello in Worcester until he is completely in love with baseball again, or at least proves that he can once again start a baseball game.