Welcome back to another edition of The Anatomy of An Inning. My name is Jacob Roy, and I pretend to know pitching better than the pitchers themselves. If youre new here or need a reminder of what this is all about, I take an inning from the previous week or so and break it down, one pitch at a time. Each pitch should have a purpose, Im looking at each of them individually to try to go beyond the box score and tell the full story.

Well flashback to the beginning of the season and go to Brayan Bellos second start for the Red Sox. He's facing the Oakland Athletics and comes out for his second inning after working a 1-2-3 first frame.

J.D. Davis leads off the inning and is known as a very aggressive hitter. With that in mind, Bello should be careful early in the count and avoid get me over strikes.

He starts Davis off with a slider. Its supposed to be down and away, but it leaks back to the arm side and Davis punches it foul. Bello never wants to miss his spot, but hell be okay with the result here. Better to miss in on the hands than out over the plate. At 0-1 with an aggressive hitter at the plate, Id double up on the slider and try to get it down and away again.

The call is for a sinker in on the hands of Davis, likely trying to get a quick out. Great idea in practice, but poor execution from Bello. The pitch ends up away, but tailing back in. Hitters today are so good at just poking those sinkers to the opposite field, rarely making it a good idea. Thats exactly what Davis does here, leading the inning off with a single.

Heres a first-pitch changeup that falls out of Bellos hand and is nowhere near the zone. 1-0.

And heres a much better changeup that Brown is well out in front of for strike one. Given the swing, it looks like Brown is sitting on a fastball. As such, Id avoid giving him a fastball in the zone.

Perfect. A third changeup that Brown is again fooled by, rolling over and weakly grounding out. It moves the runner to third, so Bello should be careful with anything in the dirt. Hed also like to avoid a sacrifice fly, although he should almost always be working in the bottom part of the zone anyway.

Rooker is much more patient as a hitter, but has a ton of swing and miss in his arsenal, particularly against off-speed pitches.

Bello starts Rooker off with a slider nowhere near the zone and somehow gets Rooker to swing and miss. If Im Brayan Bello, Im throwing slider after slider until Rooker proves he can lay off one.

Theres another, much better slider that Rooker again whiffs on. Id throw it again.

Heres a third slider that Rooker lays off. At 1-2, Im still not giving Rooker the fastball hes looking for, but a fourth slider doesnt have to be the pitch call. Bello could go with his changeup down in the zone, although Id probably throw another slider and start it closer to the middle of the plate.

For the record, I watch these games live and make notes to remind myself what innings to use, but I dont skip ahead as Im writing the articles to allow me to think as I would in real time. That being said, I nailed this. If the guy is going to swing at sliders nowhere near the zone, just throw sliders nowhere near the zone. Bello does exactly that and places them where he needs to for the strikeout.

With two outs, Bello still wants to be careful with the runner on third, but he doesnt need to worry about the sacrifice fly. Again, he should be working down in the zone with his arsenal, but if he wanted to elevate, Id be more open to it.

First pitch slider runs outside for ball one.

Heres a changeup that doesnt entice Langeliers. First base is open, so a walk isn't the end of the world if Bello wants to nibble at 2-0.

Great pitch. Bello doubles up on the changeup and catches Langeliers out in front as hes likely looking for a fastball while hes ahead in the count. Here, a sinker in on the hands is a good idea to get out of the inning.

Shit. Bello elects to go with his slider. Following the swing and miss on the arm-side breaking pitch, I like the idea of starting his pitch in the same spot and running it away from the hitter. Unfortunately, he misses his spot and Langeliers can sell out to pull the ball, putting it in the seats.

Bello is very clearly upset with himself as he throws a 97 MPH sinker for strike one.

At 0-1, Bello throws a changeup thats never in the strike zone. Its Lawrence Butler at the plate with nobody on base and two outs. Theres no need to overthink it here. Chances are, sinkers away from the hitter will result in a ground ball, and youre out of the inning as quickly as possible.

Perfect pitch, 96 MPH away from the hitter and he fouls it off. At two strikes, Id continue to go with sinkers and changeups away to end the inning as quickly as possible.

This is one of the best pitches from Bello in the inning. His sinker and changeup move almost identically and rely on the velocity difference to deceive hitters. He throws the pitch to the same spot as the previous sinker. Butler reads it as a sinker, is completely off balance, and weakly grounds the ball to the shortstop to end the inning.

This inning tells you almost everything you need to know about who Brayan Bello is right now. When he executes his pitches, good things happen. When he doesn't, it can get ugly. He tweaked his slider over the offseason and is throwing it harder than in previous years.

Sometimes, when a pitcher is throwing a new pitch, it can take some time to get a feel for the pitch. The more Bello throws his slider, the better he should understand how the pitch moves and what he should be focusing on as he releases the ball. His latest start on opening day at Fenway was an improvement over his first two starts of the season. If he gets his slider dialed in, hell have three plus pitches to get hitters out and should be able to start working deeper into games.

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The Anatomy of An Inning: Brayan Bello Attacks the A's - Over The Monster