Cheered on by Red Sox, Bello twirls first 9-inning complete game

July 9th, 2025

BOSTON -- As came out for the top of the ninth inning – an increasingly rare feat for starting pitchers in this era – a buzz of energy came across the crowd of 30,169 at Fenway Park on Tuesday night.

As the righty tried to complete his mission, there was a man standing by himself in left field also shouting.

“That was sick. I couldn't contain myself,” said Jarren Duran. “I was screaming from left field like I was in high school or something, cheering for him to finish the game. So it was awesome to see him do that.”

Just three outs from his first career shutout, Bello instead settled for his first nine-inning complete game, a performance more than dominant enough to lead his Red Sox to a 10-2 victory over the Rockies.

Bello ended his five-hitter with a nasty changeup that Ryan McMahon whiffed at, setting off more roars at Fenway. It was Bello’s 10th punchout of the contest, one shy of a career high. The only previous time he went the “distance” was a six-inning, rain-shorted 2-0 loss to the Yankees on Sept. 25, 2022.

“I was super happy to be able to enter into the ninth, and to be able to complete it was a dream come true,” said Bello.

When the Red Sox went out to play defense for that final inning, catcher Connor Wong actually beat Bello to the field. Was the righty pausing for dramatic effect?

“I lost the PitchCom, and it took me a while to find it,” Bello said.

Fortunately, Bello had much better control of his arsenal than his electronics.

Nearly immaculate in the top of the first inning and perfect through 3 1/3, Bello was the best version of himself in this one.

An infield hit that third baseman Nate Eaton fielded from the outfield grass before bobbling stopped Bello’s quest for history.

The tone was set from the outset as Bello threw six straight strikes to punch out the first two Colorado hitters and induced a flyout to left to end the first on just seven pitches.

“He was really good, especially early on,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “His strike-throwing the first third of the game, he was on point, got some swing and misses, was on top of the hitters, got ahead, stayed ahead, buried them.”

While pitching coach Andrew Bailey did come to the mound as Bello had to wiggle out of some traffic in the ninth, Cora didn’t have to make a pitching change for the first time this season. That was probably a good thing.

“I didn't see anybody warming up in the bullpen,” said Duran. “I was like, ‘Oh, I think he's going to come out and try and finish it.’ And then I saw [Isaiah] Campbell get up, and I was thinking in my head, ‘AC, if you pull Bello right now I’m going to have a word with you after the game.’ So it was super awesome to see AC let Bello go out there and finish it off.”

For the 48-45 Red Sox, it was their fifth straight win and seventh in the past eight games.

While Bello was the story early on, the recently torrid Boston offense did its share later, scoring four runs with two outs in the sixth to break the scoreless tie and then tacking on another six runs in the seventh.

In that game-breaking seventh, Trevor Story mashed a three-run homer against his former team, and Jarren Duran added two more with a Statcast-projected 456-foot missile over the Boston bullpen and into the bleachers in right-center.

Duran’s prodigious blast came just a night after Romy Gonzalez hit a 454-foot rocket to tie Mike Trout for the longest at Fenway this season. Duran now holds that honor.

“Romy smacked me on the chest and goes, ‘Thanks, dude’. I didn't really know why until I asked him about it when I got inside,” said Duran. “He goes, ‘You couldn’t let me have it for more than 24 hours?’ But yeah. I mean, a homer’s a homer, just putting those quality swings together, just letting things happen.”

Bello, who got off to a slow start this season, has been making things happen from the mound for weeks.

He has gone six innings or more in five of his past six outings and allowed three earned runs or fewer in all six.

“This is the first time I’ve felt like I’ve been feeling the past few starts, and the way I felt today is the only time I felt that way,” Bello said.