Brayan Bello tagged for six, Roman Anthony strikes out four times in Red Sox 9-2 loss to Astros

Where do we even begin?

The first look at the 2026 Red Sox hasn’t been encouraging. Boston has dropped four of its first five games, the offense has been non-existent, hitters have struggled to properly utilize the ABS challenge system, and the starting rotation has looked shaky through its first turn.

On top of everything else, the Red Sox ran into Astros ace Hunter Brown, who finished third in Cy Young voting behind Tarik Skubal and Garrett Crochet, and carved up Boston’s lifeless lineup.

Brown allowed just one run on one hit with two walks and eight strikeouts in a 9-2 victory Tuesday night.

Roman Anthony went 0-for-4 in the loss, striking out four times. He has struck out six times in the Astros series and 11 times in 21 at-bats to start the season.

All nine pitches he saw in his first three at-bats were strikes, resulting in three consecutive three-pitch strikeouts, including one looking to open the game and another swinging in the sixth. The 21-year-old struck out again in his final at-bat, going down on five pitches in the eighth inning.

Major League Baseball has entered the ABS challenge era, and the Red Sox offense has struggled to use it effectively.

Nothing illustrated that more than Ceddanne Rafaela’s at-bat in the third inning. On a 0-0 count, a pitch called a strike was challenged, which was upheld. Four pitches later, Rafaela took a sinker down the middle and was called out looking.

There was at least one positive for Rafaela, who hit his first home run of the season in the eighth inning, a 337-foot opposite-field shot to right.

Boston finally broke through against Brown in the fifth, when Marcelo Mayer drew a walk to snap a stretch of 12 straight batters retired. Connor Wong followed with an RBI double into the left-center gap, driving in Mayer for his first RBI of the season. Wong didn't record his first RBI until June 23 last year.

Brayan Bello turned in a rough outing in his season debut for Boston.

The Astros struck first in the opening inning on a Yordan Alvarez RBI double to deep center. Houston extended its lead to 3-0 in the third after Bello recorded two quick outs but walked José Altuve to keep the inning alive. The Astros capitalized with a Carlos Correa double, followed by a two-run single from Christian Walker.

“Obviously when you do that you create opportunities for the opposition,” Alex Cora said. “He got (Carlos) Correa 1-2 count, ended up walking, and after that they just kept scoring runs. We just have to be better.”

Bello unraveled in the fifth inning, surrendering a towering solo homer to Alvarez, his second of the series.

After issuing a two-out walk to Correa, things quickly spiraled. Bello gave up a double to Walker and an RBI single to Joey Loperfido, then got caught in a chaotic defensive sequence. Attempting to cut off a throw home on a broken play, he knocked the ball away, allowing another run to score. 

Two errors were charged on the play, one to Wong for an errant throw to second on a stolen base attempt, and another to Mayer on the throw home. Bello then walked Cam Smith, ending his outing with Boston trailing 6-1.

There was a strange sequence in Bello’s final at-bat against Smith. He got ahead 0-2 with two swinging strikes before a stolen base attempt led to two errors and a run scoring. On the very next pitch, Bello generated another swinging strike, which should have been strike three, but the umpire signaled only two strikes, and the mistake went unnoticed.

“To be honest with you, I don’t really know what to say about that,” Cora said.

The 26-year-old was charged with six runs (five earned) over 4 2/3 innings with eight hits, three walks and two strikeouts. Despite the rough outing, Bello generated 18 swings and misses, seven with his cutter, five with his sinker, three with his changeup, and one each with his curveball, sweeper, and four-seam fastball, according to Baseball Savant. 

Houston added two more runs in the sixth against rookie reliever Ryan Watson on a two-run single from Correa. Smith then followed with a solo homer off left-hander Jovani Morán in the seventh inning.

Circling back to Alvarez, he has consistently dominated Red Sox pitching. In 25 career games, he’s hitting .382 with nine doubles, nine home runs, 25 RBIs, and a 1.264 OPS.

He was even more dominant during the 2021 American League Championship Series, batting .522 with five extra-base hits and an eye-popping 1.408 OPS, according to NESN’s postgame show.

At this point, why are the Red Sox still pitching to him?

Boston managed just four hits, struck out 13 times, and went 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position. The Red Sox have now struck out 25 times over their first two games in Houston and have scored just three runs over their last 23 innings, dating back to Sunday in Cincinnati. It also marks the second straight year Boston has opened the season 1-4.

The Red Sox and Astros will wrap up their three-game series on Wednesday at 2:10 p.m. ET. Garrett Crochet (1-0, 0.00 ERA) will take the mound for Boston opposite Houston right-hander Mike Burrows (0-1, 7.94 ERA).