All eyes were on Brayan Bello when he took the mound in Miami on Wednesday evening.

That’s been the case since spring training, when the Red Sox signed him to a hefty pre-arbitration extension. But that show of faith has only heightened the concern surrounding Bello’s struggles this season.

When he went on the injured list following his April 19 game, he owned a 3.04 ERA over his first five starts. Since being activated on May 12, he owned a 7.05 ERA over nine starts (entering Wednesday), so when manager Alex Cora announced last week that Bello’s start would be pushed back, it guaranteed the young right-hander would be under an even brighter spotlight.

The Marlins may among MLB’s cellar-dwellers this year, but it was encouraging to see Bello navigate 6.2 innings, his longest start of the season, and pitch Boston to a 7-2 victory for the series win. For the first time since April 19 – when he pitched six shutout innings in Pittsburgh in his last start before going on the IL – the righty allowed no more than one (earned) run. He held Miami to seven hits, one walk, and struck out seven.

“No hesitation of him going in the seventh,” Cora said. “He’s one of our best ones, and we gotta get him going, and today was a good one.”

The Red Sox starter’s evening began on tenuous footing. He allowed back-to-back singles to Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Bryan De La Cruz, then gave the Marlins an early 1-0 lead on a one-out single by Jesús Sánchez.

Undeterred, Bello worked his way out of the trouble he’d created for himself.

“He did a good job, and he responded in the first inning the way we wanted to. They came out swinging, they got their hits, but he stayed attacking,” Cora told reporters. “Base hits, traffic right away, but he kept throwing strikes and that’s the most important thing. … He went out there and performed.”

Bello threw 91 pitches, 61 for strikes. He relied heavily on his sinker (36%) and changeup (30%), and mixed in a fair amount of sliders (22%). It was an encouraging sign that five of the 11 swings and misses Bello induced were on his changeup; it’s a key weapon for him, but he’s been struggling to deploy it this year.

“His stuff was really good, he was throwing hard, the changeup was probably his best one of the season,” his manager said.

Bello pulled out all the stops, going to his four-seam fastball for the first time this year.

“We talked about it. He actually brought it up earlier in the week,” Cora said. “If he feels comfortable with it, then we’ll use it. I think he picked his spots. Location-wise, was really good. And it’s a pitch that we didn’t use early on, and he felt like he needed it. We’ll pick our spots to use it.”

That Bello worked with virtually no run support during his time on the mound made the outing all the more impressive. Boston out-hit Miami 12-9 and drew seven walks to the Marlins’ one, but also struck out 11 times and failed to capitalize more often than not. Over the first seven innings, the Red Sox left at least one man on base each frame, going 4-for-16 with runners in scoring position, stranding 11. Overall, they were 5-for-20 RISP with 12 left on base.

Trevor Rogers’ night began on surer footing than Bello’s, but his advantage would prove short-lived. The Marlins starter racked up five strikeouts and got the Red Sox to strand three runners over the first two innings. He was, however, on the mound when Connor Wong led off the second with a single. In addition to being Boston’s first hit, Wong extended his MLB-leading hitting streak to 17 games, and tied Carlton Fisk for the third-longest by a catcher in franchise history. Wong quickly stole second, but neither he nor Masataka Yoshida (single) would be able to score.

The third inning was a different story. Batters 1-8 came to the plate, and the Red Sox took a 2-1 lead on RBI singles by Rafael Devers and Yoshida. It took Rogers 41 pitches to get through the inning, and though he got Dom Smith to strike out looking to leave the bases loaded, his night was over. Three innings into the game, the Marlins had to dip into their already-weak pitching staff.

“It’s all about the passing (of) the baton to the guy behind you,” said Yoshida (via a translator), who went 2-for-4 with a run, two RBI, a walk, and a strikeout. He’s hitting .440 with a 1.020 OPS over his last seven games.

“We did a good job putting long at-bats,” Cora said. “To get to the bullpen so early, that’s what we try to do. We grinded today, and we got the W.”

In the ninth, the Red Sox tacked on some insurance runs. Ceddanne Rafaela tripled in the sixth, and Devers followed suit in the ninth; with an RBI three-bagger, the third baseman tied his career-high of four on the season (set in 2019). It’s the club’s first multi-triple game since Aug. 11, 2021. And when Yoshida and Smith drew back-to-back walks to join Devers on the diamond, Rafaela doubled down the third-base line to bring them all home.

“When he’s patient, when he’s not swinging 75% of the time, good things happen,” Cora said of Rafaela, reminding everyone that the defensive standout is still only 23 years old and a rookie.

Chris Martin pitched a scoreless eighth, helped along by a Superman diving catch by Rob Refsnyder. On the whole, the outfield defense continues to be stellar; Duran and O’Neill took turns adding to their own highlight reels throughout the night, while Rafaela started at shortstop.

“We got movers,” Cora said of his outfield crew. “We’ve been talking about it from the get-go. We have some good ones, and it’s a lot different from last year.”

As the innings grew late, Kenley Jansen and Greg Weissert both warmed up in the visitors’ bullpen. When the Red Sox tacked on four runs in the top of the ninth to extend their lead to 7-1, Cora was able to send Weissert to the mound, and give his closer the extra rest before their weekend at Yankee Stadium. Weissert allowed a leadoff triple and the Marlins were able to get a run across the board before the rookie righty put the game to bed.

The Red Sox are 46-39, matching their season-high seven games above .500. They’ve won their last three games, and are 5-1-4 in their last 10 series. They’ll play the finale at 1:10 p.m. on July 4, and then it’s on to the Bronx.