The Boston Red Sox will be starting a series with the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday.
Interim manager Chad Tracy has announced pitching plans for the Red Sox this series.
Christopher Smith of MassLive.com reports that the pitchers for the series will be Brayan Bello after an opener on Tuesday, Sonny Gray on Wednesday and Ranger Suárez on Thursday.
This will be Suárez’s first start against his former team. Suárez spent his first eight seasons with Philadelphia before signing with Boston on a five-year, $140 million contract.
He had been in the Philadelphia organization since 2012 as a 16-year-old.
What Does This Mean for the Boston Red Sox?
This will be the second time Bello will be used as an opener this season.
In his first six starts, Bello allowed 26 runs in 25.2 innings (9.12 ERA). On May 5, the Red Sox tried something different by using an opener for Bello.
Fortunately for Boston, the results were great.
After using Jovani Morán as an opener, Bello came in the second inning, allowing one run in seven innings. This was easily Bello’s best game of the season.
“We’ll have an opener in front of Bello,” Tracy said. “Don’t know who that’s going to be yet. We’ll talk about it after using the ‘pen today.”
After Bello, Gray will pitch. In his first season with Boston, Gray has pitched to a 3.54 ERA in six starts (28 innings). However, his strikeout numbers have been way down.
After a 201-strikeout season in 2025 with the St. Louis Cardinals (10.0 K/9), Gray has struck out just 15 batters.
Because of this, he has an incredibly low 4.8 K/9, contributing to a 5.49 xERA, according to Baseball Savant.
With a potent Phillies lineup on deck, Red Sox fans might have to worry about potential regression for Gray.
Finally, as for Suárez, this will be his first start since May 3, after being removed with right hamstring tightness.
“Everything is good there (with Suarez) so he’s slated to throw on Thursday,” Tracy said.
What Is Going on With the Team?
The Red Sox are currently 17-23 after losing their series with the Tampa Bay Rays.
While the bats have not been doing well for Boston (seven runs scored in their three-game series), the pitching has been solid. In their series, the Red Sox gave up just 12 runs.
This has been a common theme for Boston.
Through 40 games, Boston has scored just 156 runs, the second-worst total in the American League.
While they have given up just 168 runs, that hasn’t been enough to keep them out of the AL East basement.
Because of this statistic, it is clear that Boston needs impact bats. However, they are unlikely to be buyers at the deadline due to the hole they’ve dug themselves into.
In 13 games managing the Red Sox, Tracy is 7-6. But the early rut that Boston was in under former manager Alex Cora (10-17) made this a tough hole to get out of.
With the Red Sox 9.5 games out of the division lead, and the New York Yankees and Rays performing as well as they are, this will be hard for Boston to accomplish.
However, the AL Wild Card is wide open, as the Red Sox are just two games out, despite having one of the worst records in the AL.
Boston has a lot of time left, but a lot to prove as we enter the second quarter of the season.
Like HEAVY’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
The post Red Sox Announce Pitching Plans for Philadelphia Series appeared first on HEAVY.