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\u25aa The Red Sox committed two errors on the same play to gift Houston a run in the fifth inning. And all of the Sox, as well as the umpires, forgot the count moments later.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings aren\u2019t necessarily going our way right now, but we just [have to] be better as a whole. I [have to] be better,\u201d said Anthony, who took three consecutive middle-ish fastballs for strikes in his first at-bat. \u201cThat can\u2019t happen. Not seeing it completely well right now, as is pretty obvious. But just got to be aggressive there, got to set the tone \u2014 somehow, some way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bello said, via an interpreter: \u201cIt didn\u2019t go the way I expected.\u201d<\/p>\n
And manager Alex Cora, of the infield double-oopsie: \u201cJust a bad baseball play.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sequence in the bottom of the fifth represented, well, the bottom. <\/p>\n
With two outs, Bello induced consecutive swing-and-misses from Cam Smith to begin the at-bat, moving him to a strike away from stranding a pair of runners \u2014 and exiting the game with the Red Sox within striking distance.<\/p>\n
On the second pitch, Joey Loperfido took off for second base. Catcher Connor Wong\u2019s errant throw short-hopped second baseman Marcelo Mayer<\/a> and skipped away, allowing Christian Walker to scoot home. When Mayer threw home to try to nab Walker, Bello tried to cut it off but deflected the ball toward the first-base dugout. Loperfido ended up at third.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ball was coming straight to me,\u201d Bello said. \u201cI tried to yell at [Mayer] to not throw the ball, because the runner was already getting close to home plate. So when he threw the ball, I tried to try to catch it, and the ball just ran away from me.\u201d<\/p>\n Then it got weirder.<\/p>\n After the throw-it-around chaos, Bello asked Mark Wenger for the count and the home plate umpire told him it was 1 and 1, Bello said. That was wrong; it should have been 0 and 2.<\/p>\n Smith whiffed on the next pitch, too, for what was supposed to be strike three. Wegner had forgotten the count and signaled 1 and 2.<\/p>\n \u201cApparently I somehow didn\u2019t count the second swinging one,\u201d Wegner said. \u201cHad anybody caught it, we can always go and call replay and check the count. I\u2019ve never done that before. I\u2019m not happy about it. Just made a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith and Cora said they were unaware in the moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one on the field said a word,\u201d Wegner said.<\/p>\n Bello threw six more pitches \u2014 only three of them balls, not four \u2014 and walked Smith, then left the game.<\/p>\n In his season debut, Bello lasted 4 innings and gave up five earned runs (six overall) and eight hits. He had more walks (three) than strikeouts (two). And all of the free passes came with two outs.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I let them put the ball in play or any other outcome, things might\u2019ve been different,\u201d Bello said.<\/p>\n Houston (4-2) scored early and often against Bello, who had trouble finishing innings and was let down by his defense. Rafaela got twisted around in center on Yordan Alvarez\u2019s RBI double off the wall in the first inning. Anthony\u2019s throw home in the third on Walker\u2019s two-run single was a two-hopper up the line, allowing Carlos Correa to eke by Wong and across the plate.<\/p>\n Against Brown, the Astros\u2019 top starting pitcher and No. 3 finisher in American League Cy Young Award<\/a> voting last year, the Red Sox didn\u2019t get a hit until the fifth inning. That was Wong\u2019s RBI double, his second extra-base hit in as many starts.<\/p>\n Brown finished six innings having allowed just that one run and one hit. He struck out eight and walked two.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s good,\u201d Anthony said, \u201cbut I just [have to] be better.\u201d<\/p>\n Since reaching base four times in an Opening Day win<\/a>, Anthony is 1 for 17 with 10 strikeouts \u2014 a small-sample performance that tracks exactly with the Sox\u2019 success or lack thereof.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s five games,\u201d Anthony said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got 155-plus, so we\u2019re going to be all right.\u201d<\/p>\n Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com<\/a>. Follow him @timbhealey<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Brayan](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/FKYBQY5EV5EP5OQBH3TZIQBG7E.jpg\")
Brayan Bello was charged with six runs (five earned) for his first start of 2026.Jon Shapley\/Associated Press<\/p>\n