Brayan Bello could start for Ranger Suarez (adductor)

Bello was pulled after 58 pitches, which would potentially keep him in the relief mix for the Wild Card opener on Tuesday. He gave up one run and posted a 22/3 K/BB over 18 2/3 innings in his final four appearances to finish what originally looked like a disastrous season with a 4.33 ERA in 116 1/3 innings.

Suarez gave up three hits, walked one and struck out five. He was essentially as advertised in his first season with the Red Sox. Suarez will finish the year 8-5 with a 3.22 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 140 strikeouts in 148 1/3 innings over 28 starts. He turned 31 last month and his 3.68 xFIP suggests he’s not slowing down soon.

It’s unclear how the Red Sox are going to handle the situation since they’re ostensibly locked into the second Wild Card spot heading into the playoffs next week. Patrick Sandoval was scheduled to start Sunday’s season finale and will presumably get the ball on Saturday instead, weather permitting. Jake Bennett, Payton Tolle and Brayan Bello are also in the mix to pitch as well. It’ll be Matthew Boyd and David Peterson most getting the ball for the Cubs during the twin bill with Justin Steele (elbow) in the mix to return from the injured list this weekend. There are a ton of variables that fantasy managers need to monitor with Boston facing inclement weather from roughly Friday evening through Sunday afternoon.

Bello had allowed two baserunners through three scoreless innings before giving up a solo homer to Jonathan Aranda to lead off the bottom of the fourth. He bounced back with four more scoreless frames, giving the Red Sox eight innings of one-run ball in what was his best outing of the season. The 27-year-old right-hander ends the day with a 4.49 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, and a 90/35 K/BB ratio across 112 1/3 innings. Saturday’s effort might have earned him another start before the end of the season as the team tries to keep its rotation fresh for the postseason.

Bello draws the starting assignment for Saturday’s game against the Rays with Payton Tolle apparently being skipped in the rotation in an effort to manage his workload and set up Boston’s rotation for the postseason. Obviously, Bello has had more success coming out of the bullpen as opposed to being used as a traditional starter. Still, this is a decent spot for fantasy purposes in pitcher-friendly Tropicana Field.

Suarez gave up a run in the opening frame, but managed to keep Tampa Bay off the scoreboard into the late innings despite issuing a season-high five walks. The control issues seem like a bit of an outlier considering he’s rarely handed out more than three free passes and four of those five walks went to Yandy Díaz and Junior Caminero in this one. He finished with five strikeouts and allowed three earned runs or fewer for the third consecutive start since the beginning of September. He’ll wrap up the regular season with a home matchup against the Guardians on Thursday.

Suarez cruised through five scoreless innings, giving up just two hits and no walks before Carter Jensen took him deep for a solo homer in the sixth. That would be all the damage the Royals could get across on Suarez. He pitched a scoreless seventh and finished his day with eight strikeouts. The 31-year-old left-hander will take a 3.33 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, and a 130/40 K/BB ratio across 137 2/3 innings into a start against the Rays in Tampa Bay on Friday.

Bello will be available as a long man out of the pen tonight. The Red Sox will stick with a five-man rotation for now and start Patrick Sandoval, Jake Bennett and Sonny Gray against the Rangers next week.

The Red Sox have some extra flexibility with off days coming up Thursday and Monday. Gray got to pitch on nine days’ rest last time through. Now, Suarez, who pitched seven scoreless innings against Baltimore last time out, will get eight days in between starts, with Gray working on five days’ rest.

Bello also walked two and struck out seven while throwing 60 percent of his pitches for strikes and posting a 12 percent swinging strike rate. Bello threw just 60 percent of his sinkers for strikes, and getting ahead with his fastballs has been a continuous issue for him. However, Bello’s sweeper was electric in this one, posting a 26 percent swinging strike rate and a 44 percent CSW. He’s never had marks that high while also throwing his sweeper over 20 percent of the time. It was a nice start for Bello, who could work in some relief capacity over the weekend as well.