Pivetta strong on mound as Phillies shut out Red Sox
PHILADELPHIA » Maybe it was written in the stars for Tyler Patrick Kelly on this night at Citizens Bank Park, where after a career of more than 900 minor league games and a couple of splashes of major league coffee, he was finally going to see what he could do against a bonafide All-Star pitcher of the highest order.
And this being Irish Heritage Celebration Night at Citizens Bank Park ... what could go wrong?
“I’d never faced him before,” Kelly said Thursday night of Red Sox ace Chris Sale. “I was just fortunate he put a breaking ball out over the plate and I was able to keep it fair.”
Unlike two-thirds of Phillies games this season, and unlike too many of the infrequent chances Kelly, 28, has had to stick around in the majors, this one wouldn’t break bad.
With one out in the eighth inning of a scoreless game, Kelly smacked the Sale delivery down the left-field line for a double that brought catcher Andrew Knapp all the way around from first base to score what would be the game’s only run, lifting the Phillies to a 1-0 victory that snapped an eight-game losing streak.
And since it came in only his 64th major league game over a nine-year professional career, you’d think it would be a career highlight for Kelly...?
“Well, top-five,” he mused. “I don’t know; I haven’t put together a list.”
Consider it to be top of the list as far as the Phillies are concerned. They picked up this scholarly looking guy who hails from Dallas and played on Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic for cash from Toronto.
For a team without realistic expectations of competing, this discount buy was almost a no-lose proposition. Maybe it could turn out to be more than that, since the Phillies didn’t really have much of a pinch-hitting presence this season.
Or any other kind of presence, for that matter.
“To finally come out on top tonight, it’s reassuring that we’re on the right path and very close to being a successful team,” Kelly actually said.
To his credit, eight years of slapping baseballs to all parts of smalltown parks — Kelly has carried a .280 career average over his many minor stops — has kept him reassured of his abilities.
“The expectations are kind of tempered a little bit, I guess, because he’s pitching so well,” Kelly said about his approach to Sale in the eighth. “You’re just trying to go up there and do something positive, try to hit a ball hard and hope it falls. There are a lot of good things that can come out of an at-bat like that, just making him work, seeing some pitches.
“So I’m pretty relaxed going into those kind of at-bats. I don’t feel a ton of pressure. If anything, it’s less pressure against someone like that.”
Amid the strange glow of victory, Kelly was a low-key force in a clubhouse that suddenly contained something missing for a long time ... energy.
A baseball game won, there was now Nerf basketball going with Maikel Franco and two young kids, a ping-pong war between Odubel Herrera and Freddy Galvis, and music galore. Amid it all, the quiet Irish guy from Team Israel just kept checking his phone before talking about his rare moment in the spotlight.
“I would take that result against anybody,” Ty Kelly said, “but it feels good against him. Maybe more of my friends will text me tonight.”
*** Triple-A promotee Nick Pivetta became the first Phillies starter this season to throw seven scoreless innings. Five days earlier, he’d allowed four earned runs in a 7-0 loss in St. Louis. He had not gone more than five innings in any of his previous six Phillies starts.
But this time Pivetta would allow just four hits to the Red Sox, walking two while striking out nine in his seven run-free innings. And against one of the best pitchers in the majors in Chris Sale.
“Sale is a phenomenal pitcher, we all know that,” Pivetta said. “That was the first time I really faced a guy like that and it was really exciting for me. I tried to go out there and go toe to toe with him, knowing he was going to go out there and do his best, and he did. He just had a phenomenal game and I just tried to stay with him.”
Said Knapp: “That’s an All-Star on the mound over there. Being able to go punch for punch with him is huge. For Nick to be able to compete against a guy like that and keep putting up zeroes, it’s a pretty sweet win.”
*** NOTES » Knapp would score the only run of the game when he managed to muscle a bloop single over the infield in the eighth, then come around and score on Kelly’s double. You don’t usually see a catcher leg out a run like that, and Knapp did it up right with a celebration after sliding into home.
“Yeah, we were battling so much that game. We’ve been going through some stuff and I think this is going to propel us forward a little bit,” he said. “It was an emotional win because we’ve been struggling so bad.”