Little surprise as Kelly shows power
Powerful. That was the way Red Sox manager John Farrell described Joe Kelly’s relief appearance in last night’s 4-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park.
In a literal sense, Farrell was correct.
The ball came out of Kelly’s hand with the usual high velocity, touching 100 mph with fastballs.
But for Kelly, who made his first appearance in the majors with the Red Sox since June 1 following a stint on the disabled list for a groin strain, registering an impressive number on the radar gun never has been a problem.
Keeping batters from pounding those pitches in play at equal or greater speed is Kelly’s most painful dilemma.
“He was powerful,” Farrell said. “A lot of power, a lot of velocity, some inconsistent command to get behind in the count 2-1 to (Justin) Upton that fastball out over the plate — he’s able to drive one the other way. But still for the first look, he threw enough strikes. I thought he threw a breaking ball for strikes on occasion. So (good) first look on his part.”
The truth is, this was not Kelly’s first look. Sure, it’s the first since he returned from injury, but it was the same type of performance.
Upton lead off the seventh inning with Detroit up 2-1. Kelly threw four fastballs, all between 98-100 mph. Two were called balls, one was a swinging strike and the fourth — and fastest — was a line drive into the triangle in center for a triple.
Two batters later, James McCann got less of the bat barrel on a 99-mph twoseamer, but it was enough to fall safely in center for an RBI single.
“I’m sure that there was some adrenaline,” Farrell said of Kelly’s emotions on the mound. “You would hope that every guy that takes the mound there’s adrenaline there. I can’t say that it took him out of his game. We’re thinking in that spot he’s going to give us two innings but 20-plus pitches, not going to run him up to 40-plus if that’s the possibility. I don’t think he was overthrowing to the point where he was completely losing the strike zone.”
Overthrowing. Underthrowing. The means always seem to come to the same end for Kelly. The power is consistent, but so is the utter lack of movement on those fastballs.
Fans can gawk at the flamethrowing pitcher, but a ball thrown with little movement, even when coming in at that speed, is easily sent the other way by major league hitters.
What Kelly showed last night is nothing new to Red Sox fans. It was powerful. However, it was also nothing new to opposing hitters, who keep sending his powerful stuff back in equal measure.