We interrupt this desultory stretch of play by the Red Sox, this lengthy display of increasing irrelevance, with a bit of good news.
Brayan Bello is for real.
At least he was on Wednesday night. For the first time in four major league starts, in his sixth major league appearance, you could watch him and understand what all the hype has been about.
Bello has been ranked among the Top 100 prospects in the game and is considered the Red Sox' best starting pitching prospect in perhaps a decade. Those advance notices might have seemed excessive in his first few tries, when he appeared alternately tentative and all-too-hittable, allowing almost two hits per inning in his first three starts.
From the start Wednesday night, however, this was different. Bello trusted his stuff, challenged hitters, commanded better and gave every indication that he was capable of competing at the big league level. And this was no punchless lineup he was up against: The Blue Jays are stacked, deep and fearsome, though it helped that the lineup featured just one lefthanded hitter.
After he faced the minimum number of hitters over the first three innings, he got himself into a spot in the fourth, allowing a leadoff single and then a walk. But after a fielder's choice pushed the lead runner to third and a single by Alejandro Kirk produced a run, Bello dug in and fanned Teoscar Hernandez and Bo Bichette, ending the threat.
Another run was pushed across in the fifth on three straight singles -- one of the infield variety -- but once more, Bello limited the damage, getting Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on a flyout, leaving runners at the corners.
He was lifted after the fifth, having gone through the lineup almost two and a half times, with a pitch count of 65. As Alex Cora noted after the Red Sox' 3-2 loss in 10 innings, it had been a while since Bello had gone five and they didn't want to ask too much of him, too soon.
It may have only been five innings and a no-decision, but it was a statement game from Bello. Yes, he's ready and yes he can compete at this level.
"He was excellent,'' said Cora. "That was good stuff. We felt (in his last appearance before suffering a knee injury, in relief), he was turning the corner. Talking to other starters and understanding how it works. You can't just stay on one side of the plate. You've got to mix it up. From pitch one, that was electric -- weak contact, swing-and-misses ... He was really good.''
The worry, if there was one, was that someone like Bello might be discouraged from his early struggles, and have it impact his confidence going forward. It's happened before that young pitchers begin to question their stuff and talent level, and shrink from the challenge. They begin avoiding the strike zone, fearful that their best pitches will be hit hard, and lose their way.
But Cora has been observing Bello closely and noted that the 22-year-old wasn't demoralized. He's found a mentor of sorts in Nathan Eovaldi, who has counseled him on preparation and between-start work. Like a sponge, Bello was tried to absorb everything around him, without allowing his surroundings to overwhelm him.
"He's learning,'' said Cora. "There's a lot of communication. He's asking a lot of questions, which is great, and the guys have embraced it.''
Ultimately, beyond aptitude and willingness to learn, Bello has to show results on mound. He did, thanks to a newfound aggressiveness.
"I was attacking the hitters and I was always ahead in the count,'' said Bello.
And, he doesn't lack for belief in his own abilities. When I asked him, through a translator, if outings like Wednesday's were closer to what he's been expecting from himself at the big league level, he didn't hesitate, or complicate his response.
"Yes,'' he said, with a trace of a smile. "I feel like tonight was a good step forward for me.''
It was encouraging for the Red Sox, too, who hold him to a higher standard perhaps than Josh Winckowski or Kutter Crawford, who other rookies dotting their rotation. Winckowski and Crawford may have their moments, but they've had their inconsistency, too. Winckowski can't seem to get hitters to swing and miss and Crawford too often allows hard, hard contact.
With Bello, there's an aura. You can see it with the precision with which he carves up the strike zone. You can see it in his dominance, when he went upstairs on Bichette and overpowered him with his fastball. You can see it on the radar gun, and the 13 swing-and-misses he got Wednesday against a formidable lineup.
"He's a good one,'' concluded Cora. "You can tell. Slowly but surely, he's becoming a guy.''
In a season in which wins are becoming increasingly hard to come by, the Red Sox could use one of those -- for the present, as a distraction to their downward spiral in the standings, and, of course, the future, too.