Red Sox rotation taking shape with Brayan Bello, Sonny Gray, Ranger Suarez lined up for Phillies

The Red Sox are turning the page following their three-game series against the Rays and will have Monday off before opening a new three-game set with the Phillies at Fenway Park.

Boston plans to use an opener on Tuesday night before turning the game over to Brayan Bello.

It will mark the second time this season the Red Sox have used Bello in a piggyback role behind an opener. Boston previously deployed that strategy on May 5 against the Tigers, when left-hander Jovani Morán opened the game.

After Morán lasted just one inning and threw 38 pitches, the Red Sox handed the ball to Bello, and the right-hander responded with his best outing of the season.

Bello tossed seven innings, allowing just one run while earning the win in Boston’s 10-3 victory over Detroit.

“We’ll have an opener in front of Bello. Don’t know who that’s going to be yet,” interim Red Sox manager Chad Tracy said following the Sox' 4-1 loss to the Rays on Mother's Day. “We’ll talk about it after using the ‘pen today.”

Prior to his appearance in Detroit last week, Bello had struggled badly on the mound, allowing 26 earned runs across 25 2/3 innings while pitching to a 9.12 ERA through his first six starts of the season.

His relief appearance against the Tigers marked the first time all year that Bello did not allow multiple runs in an outing, lowering his ERA to 7.44. The seven-inning effort was also the longest relief outing by a Red Sox pitcher since Casey Fossum on July 24, 2002.

The Red Sox will then turn to veteran right-hander Sonny Gray in the second game of the series.

Gray is coming off his return from the injured list in Detroit, where he tossed five innings while limiting the Tigers to four hits and two walks. The outing improved Gray to 3-1 on the season and marked an encouraging first start back after dealing with hamstring tightness.

Boston will close out the series Thursday with Ranger Suarez taking the mound against his former club.

The left-hander has been sidelined with right hamstring tightness and has not pitched since May 3, when the Red Sox fell 3-1 to the Astros at Fenway Park.

After a pair of rocky starts to begin his Red Sox tenure, Suarez has quietly become one of Boston’s most reliable starters.

The 30-year-old owns a 2.77 ERA across seven starts and has not allowed a run in four of his last five outings while holding opponents to a .197 batting average this season.

Suarez will be a welcome addition back to a Red Sox rotation that is slowly beginning to get healthy again.

Before the hamstring issue sidelined him, the left-hander had thrown eight scoreless innings in two of his previous three starts, including a dominant outing in Toronto where he struck out 10 batters and tossed five no-hit frames.

Boston is expected to proceed cautiously with Suarez, given his history of hamstring injuries.

The southpaw landed on the 15-day injured list with a right hamstring strain while with the Phillies in August 2023 and also missed time in the minors in 2018 with a similar issue. Both absences, however, were relatively brief.

Thursday’s outing will also mark the first time Suarez faces his former club.

The left-hander spent the 2018-2025 seasons with Philadelphia, posting a 3.38 ERA across 187 appearances, including 119 starts. Suarez originally signed with the Phillies as a 16-year-old in 2012.

Boston signed Suarez to a five-year, $130 million contract in January, the largest free-agent deal handed out by Craig Breslow since taking over baseball operations and the longest contract the Red Sox have given a free agent since Trevor Story in 2022.

Once Suarez rejoins the rotation, attention will shift toward Garrett Crochet, who remains on the injured list with left shoulder inflammation.

Crochet has resumed throwing from 60 feet and continues to progress through his strengthening program.

“Just continue to ramp him up, he did throw yesterday and he said it was the best he’s felt throwing,” Tracy said to reporters this past week. “So we’re still strengthening, we’re still throwing and we’re increasing intensity as he goes. So we’re just going to continue that track until we feel the strength numbers are where they’re supposed to be, he feels good and he can ramp up more.”

Crochet is eligible to come off the injured list on Tuesday, but unlike Gray, he will need to build to full strength before being activated. The club will determine whether he needs a rehab start before rejoining his teammates in Boston.

The Phillies are heading into Boston as one of the hotter teams in baseball, winners of seven of their last 10 games.

Like the Red Sox, Philadelphia also made a managerial change earlier this season, moving on from Rob Thomson after a slow start. Since Don Mattingly took over as interim manager, the Phillies have caught fire.

Former Red Sox slugger Kyle Schwarber arrives at Fenway Park swinging one of the hottest bats in baseball. Schwarber launched two more home runs in Philadelphia’s 6-0 win over the Rockies on Sunday and has now homered in four straight games. His 16 home runs are tied with Yankees superstar Aaron Judge for the major league lead.

At his current pace, Schwarber is tracking toward a staggering 63-home run season.

Fenway Park has also historically been a comfortable setting for the left-handed slugger. Including postseason games, Schwarber is a career .319 hitter with a 1.083 OPS in 30 games at Fenway Park. He has launched nine home runs in those games, averaging roughly one homer every three contests.

The Phillies will send out Zack Wheeler in the series opener, Andrew Painter on Wednesday, and Jesus Luzardo in the series finale. The Red Sox dodge a bullet and will avoid facing ace Cristopher Sánchez.

The left-hander dominated Colorado on Sunday, tossing seven scoreless innings while striking out seven without issuing a walk. All six hits Sánchez allowed were singles.

The first pitch on Tuesday night is set for 6:45 p.m., and the game can be seen on NESN and heard on WEEI.