The Boston Red Sox may have found the answer to Brayan Bello's struggles, but it has come at a cost to their bullpen depth. In Tuesday night's 2-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, the offense went cold, but fans had reason to be optimistic about the young right-hander's recent resurgence.

Since interim manager Chad Tracy introduced an "opener" strategy for Bello's starts, the results have been promising. Over his last two outings, Bello has allowed just two earned runs in 13.1 innings—a stark improvement from his earlier struggles. The idea is simple: let a reliever handle the first inning, then hand the ball to Bello to navigate the middle frames.

But here's the catch: each time Tracy has deployed this tactic, the opener has surrendered a run in the first inning. Both times, that opener has been left-handed reliever Jovani Moran. In his first "start" against the Detroit Tigers, Moran walked two and gave up three hits, allowing two runs before Bello took over. On Tuesday, he fared slightly better, striking out two of four batters, but former Red Sox first baseman Kyle Schwarber launched a belt-high fastball into the right-field seats for a solo home run.

While Tracy deserves credit for thinking outside the box to fix Bello's early-inning woes, it's clear the team hasn't found the ideal candidate for the opener role. With the strategy likely here to stay, the Red Sox may need to experiment with other bullpen arms to avoid digging an early hole for their starter. For now, Boston's rotation fix has created a new puzzle in the pen—one that could define their season as they push toward contention.