Red Sox pitcher Kelly loses appeal
Joe Kelly’s appeal of a six-game suspension was denied by John McHale Jr., a special assistant to baseball commissioner Rob Manfred, and the Boston pitcher started serving the penalty Thursday night against Toronto.
“It’s disappointing,” Kelly said. “Suspensions are always not fun. Went in there and went through the appeal process. Obviously it didn’t work out too well.”
Following the decision, Kelly posted a message on Twitter that read “At least take me to dinner first…”
Kelly was disciplined for twice throwing at the New York Yankees’ Tyler Austin on April 11. Austin charged the mound and was suspended five games, a penalty cut to four Thursday by McHale.
Despite the outcome, Kelly said he didn’t regret appealing.
“I always like sticking up for myself,” he said. “It kind of helps me sleep at night going in fighting for what I believe in.”
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said he had expected a reduction in Kelly’s suspension.
“If I was a gambling man, I would have bet a dollar that they would have at least reduced it to five, but it didn’t happen,” Cora said.
Kang’s visa granted: Jung Ho Kang is back in the United States and on his way to rejoining the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The club announced that the South Korean third baseman has been granted a work visa by the U.S. government and will report to the team’s training complex in Bradenton, Fla.
The 31-year-old Kang last played for the Pirates in 2016. He was arrested in South Korea on DUI charges for a third time in December 2016 and received an eight-month suspended prison sentence that led to visa issues.
Pittsburgh, which signed Kang to an $11 million, four-year contract in January 2015, placed Kang on the restricted list last March after Kang failed to secure a visa.
Cleveland reliever shelved: Reliever Andrew Miller was placed on the 10-day disabled list by the Cleveland Indians because of a strained left hamstring.
Miller grabbed the back of his leg after throwing a pitch to the Chicago Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo in the seventh inning Wednesday night and was removed from the game. Miller had an MRI on Thursday.
Miller struck out 17 and walked four over 10 scoreless innings in 11 games this year.
Athletics demote opening day starter: The Oakland Athletics have optioned opening day starter Kendall Graveman and fellow right-hander Chris Bassitt to Class AAA Nashville.
The A’s also announced that righthander Wilmer Font will be added to the 25-man roster a day after being acquired in a trade from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Graveman was 0-5 with an 8.89 ERA in six starts. He has the most losses, runs allowed (28) and hits allowed (41) in the majors.
Graveman was last optioned to the minors in 2015 after starting the year 1-2 with an 8.27 ERA in four starts. He came back a month later to go 5-2 with a 1.78 ERA over his first nine starts following his return.
Bassitt was called up from Nashville last Friday but didn’t get into a game before being sent back down.
Font was 0-2 with an 11.32 ERA in six relief appearances with the Dodgers before he was designated for assignment on Monday. He was traded to the A’s for minor league left-handed pitcher Logan Salow on Wednesday.