Brayan Bello visibly frustrated as latest short start dooms Red Sox

For 40 years, April 29 has been an historic day in Boston baseball history.

It was on this day in 1986 that a 23-year-old Roger Clemens struck out 20 Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park, a new MLB record for a nine-inning game.

Even if game footage and reminiscences from Clemens himself hadn’t circulated on social media on Wednesday, the anniversary itself provided more than enough brutal contrast to the current state of the Red Sox starting rotation, which that day lost ace Garrett Crochet to the 15-day injured list and endured another brief, bewildering performance from Brayan Bello.

Willson Contreras’s first-inning solo home run proved to be the high point of Wednesday afternoon’s series finale in Toronto, which the Red Sox lost, 8-1.

Bello lasted just 3 2/3 innings, in which he yielded four earned runs on six hits, walked two and struck out two. He induced just one swing-and-miss.

Over his last 10 starts dating back to last September, including Game 2 of the wild-card series, Bello owns a 7.93 ERA and .337 opponent average, with 27 strikeouts and 24 walks in 42 innings.

Through six starts this season, Bello’s ERA is 9.12, the worst mark by any active MLB pitcher with a minimum of five starts — Blue Jays veteran Max Scherzer owns a 9.64 but is on the injured list — and his .374 opponent average is the worst of any MLB pitcher with at least 10 innings pitched.

The Red Sox are 1-18 when their starters don’t complete six innings. Bello’s four starts of four innings or less are tied for the most in MLB, and Wednesday was the third one in which he didn’t complete the fourth. Bello’s 6 2/3-inning performance in St. Louis on April 12 remains his only start deeper than 4 2/3.

“He looked great early,” interim manager Chad Tracy told reporters postgame. “We got into a tight spot.”

Bello worked around a two-out single by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the first, and retired the Blue Jays in order in the second. But then his command evaporated in the third, and the lead along with it. Bello began the inning with a strikeout of Andres Gimenez, then allowed a single to Brandon Valenzuela. The rest of the damage came with two outs. Three straight two-out singles by Jesus Sanchez, Guerrero and Kazuma Okamoto put Toronto on top 2-1.

By then, Bello could barely locate the strike zone. A wild pitch advanced Guerrero and Okamoto to third and second, and Bello walked Daulton Varsho on four straight balls to reload the bases. Rookie Yohendrick Pinango’s RBI single brought in a third run before Roman Anthony’s throw to catcher Connor Wong beat Okamoto to home plate.

Bello needed three pitches to record the first two outs of the fourth, but his day was over when he followed with a walk to Brandon Valenzuela.

“With a full bullpen, everybody available, we decided if we needed to be aggressive, we would,” Tracy explained of the early hook for Bello, who threw just 63 pitches (40 strikes) in the contest.

As the new Sox skipper began walking out to the mound, his starter emphatically shook his head from side to side. Bello returned to the dugout after a quiet word from Contreras, but continued to shake his head.

“Most pitchers I know don’t like to come out in the fourth inning, so that’s OK,” Tracy said of Bello’s reaction. Asked if he’d addressed it, Tracy answered, “not yet.”

“Brayan knows, like when the manager comes, that’s it,” Tracy added, “but again, he doesn’t want to come out of the game, and I expect that with a pitcher.”

“Obviously I was upset,” Bello said via translator. “I haven’t been able to pitch well in the past few. I haven’t been able to pitch deep into games.”

Bello clarified that his reaction wasn’t targeted at Tracy. “I was very upset with myself,” the righty said.

The Blue Jays only struck out three times in the contest, and they were relentless against the Boston bullpen. Greg Weissert immediately gave up a two-run homer to Ernie Clement, the second baseman’s first round-tripper of the year. Facing left-hander Jovani Moran in the fifth, the Blue Jays tacked on a pair of runs in the fifth, on an RBI single by George Springer and sac-fly by Myles Straw. Valenzuela took righty Garrett Whitlock deep in the eighth.

The Red Sox are 0-17 when trailing after the sixth inning, and were down 7-1 by that point on Wednesday.

“The weird thing was, I felt like the first three innings our at-bats were awesome, we hit like, eight or nine balls really hard for outs,” Tracy said. “We had some opportunities … but we didn’t cash in those spots.”

Left-hander Eric Lauer held the Red Sox to one earned run on five hits, one walk, and struck out one on 68 pitches (45 strikes).

Boston loaded the bases with one out in the top of the fifth, and again with one out in the eighth. Contreras lined into a double-play in the former. Jarren Duran, pinch hitting for Andruw Monasterio, struck out swinging, and Connor Wong’s choppy grounder was easily gloved by Okamoto in the latter.

“(Contreras’) line drive, I think Durbin broke a little bit, I think he slipped when he was trying to go back,” Tracy said of the Red Sox third baseman, who was the second out of the fifth-inning double play.

Though the Red Sox struck out just six times and were only outhit 10-9, with two walks, the offensive issues are becoming a near-daily recurrence. They were 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base.

The Red Sox are 12-19 on the season, tied for the most pre-May losses in franchise history. They are 2-2 under Tracy, having won his first two games and lost the last two.

After a grueling stretch of 13 consecutive days with a game, the Red Sox have an off-day Thursday. They open up a weekend series with the Houston Astros Friday at Fenway.