Brayan Bello does something that a young Red Sox pitcher hasn't done since Roger Clemens

BOSTON -- Brayan Bello is putting a lot of things together.

The 24-year-old right-hander continued his tremendous season with another seven-inning outing on Wednesday night, earning a win over the Texas Rangers at Fenway Park. It was also Bello's fifth consecutive start where he pitched at least six innings while allowing two or fewer runs.

In the Red Sox' postgame notes, the team said a pitcher hasn't done that before turning 25 years old since Roger Clemens did it in 1986.

That 1986 season was a big one for Clemens, as he ascended to All-Star status for the first time, in large part due to that exact run of starts. After his 20-strikeout performance in late April, Clemens went 6-0 with a 1.24 ERA from May 25 to June 21.

On Bello's current run, he is 3-1 with a 1.82 ERA over his last five starts.

It's left manager Alex Cora obviously impressed, and he was particularly enthused by Wednesday's performance, which came against MLB's No. 1 offense.

"He's good, man. He's really good," Cora said of Bello. "Without his best stuff, he went seven. They hit some balls hard today. ... At one point he had 50 pitches, and I was like, 'Well, we're going five today.' And he goes seven. Used a cutter, slider, changeups. He was able to use his sinker. And like I said, his stuff wasn't great, command wasn't great, but to do that against that lineup? That's impressive."

Even more than the physical performance, Cora said he was overly impressed by the mental approach and execution that Bello has.

"I think he gathers information. He understands -- him and [Dave Bush] and [Jason Varitek] -- they do a good job in between innings to go over what's going on," Cora said. "Going into the battle, you have an idea of what you want to do. But then the opposition, they react differently, sometimes more aggressive than others, sometimes more patient. But little by little, he gathers information, and he applies it. He's not afraid. Like, we will tell him something, 'Hey you're doing this, you're doing that, be more aggressive with this pitch.' And then he goes and he executes."

That combination of mental approach and physical execution gave Cora the confidence to leave Bello in the game after Robbie Grossman hit a one-out double in the seventh. Cora let Bello get out of that inning himself, and the pitcher appreciated that show of confidence.

"I feel grateful for him to give me that confidence," Bello said through his translator after the game. "In the seventh, when they hit that double, I looked into the dugout and looked at him, saying I don't want him to take me out of the game. And I appreciate the confidence of letting me finish that inning, and that's something that I really appreciate about Alex and all the confidence that he has given me through my past few starts. It helped me a lot, I think."

On the season, Bello is now 6-5 with a 3.04 ERA, the lone stabilizing force in a Red Sox rotation that has been defined by instability this season. Sometimes, though, it takes an eye-popping comparison to put it all into perspective. And doing something that nobody's done in almost 40 years is one such moment.