Kelly closes door on just 4 pitches
RED SOX NOTEBOOK
TORONTO — It wasn’t the first save of Joe Kelly’s career, but it was the quickest.
With Craig Kimbrel unavailable after pitching in three of the last four games (and warming up in the one game he didn’t pitch), Kelly was told yesterday morning he would be the Red Sox closer du jour.
On to protect a 5-3 lead against the Toronto Blue Jays in the ninth inning, Kelly got the first out on two pitches, then two straight one-pitch outs to end the game on four offerings.
It was the quickest inning of his career.
“I needed it,” he said. “That was good. Happy about that.”
Kelly had thrown at least 16 pitches in each of his five other outings on the 10-game road trip.
Not known for being the quickest pitcher — he gets into a lot of deep counts and has high strikeout and walk totals — he’s only completed an inning of work on fewer than 10 pitches five other times in his seven-year career.
It was the second save of his career; the first one was also this year. Manager Alex Cora has shown a lot of faith in Kelly.
“I was asked, how I felt. I said, ‘I felt good,’” Kelly said. “He said, ‘Can you close (yesterday)?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ It’s a little bit easier to get prepared for the game. You don’t have to read the situation in the eighth. They told me in the morning and I was ready for it.”
Kelly finished the road trip with 62 ⁄3 innings pitched and just one run allowed on four hits and three walks. He struck out nine.
A free agent after this season, he has a 2.33 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 191 ⁄3 innings this season.
So-so starters
Though the Sox bullpen took three losses in the last 10 games, it bailed out the starters after some poor performances, just like the one Drew Pomeranz submitted yesterday.
After including Pomeranz’ three runs allowed on five hits and five walks over four-plus innings, the Sox starters combined for a 4.55 ERA over 571⁄3 innings on the road trip.
The relievers had a 3.41 ERA over 312 ⁄3 innings.
Pomeranz said he had nothing working.
“Just kind of felt lost on everything, pretty much the whole time,” he said.
He was once again pitching with the cracked fingernail that bothered him in his last start. He said it limited him all week leading up to this start. He was able to throw only a couple curveballs in the days leading up to the start and had no feel for the pitch.
“It didn’t feel good, but nothing felt good,” he said. “Nothing felt good coming out of my hand. I wasn’t throwing anything where I wanted to. I was able to get some strikeouts but they didn’t swing at some pitches and kind of got lucky. But yeah, didn’t feel great.
“I wasn’t able to throw it much in between this and I didn’t really have a normal throwing program in between, which is frustrating. It’s not an excuse. I still have to go out there and find a way to win, but it’s part of it.”
He said he expects to be able to throw some curves in bullpen sessions leading into his next start.
Velazquez odd man out?
Hector Velazquez relieved Pomeranz and threw two scoreless innings. He has become a weapon out of the bullpen with a 2.10 ERA this season.
But since he has minor league options, there’s a chance he’ll be sent back to the minors when the Sox are expected to activate knuckleballer Steven Wright ahead of tonight’s game.
Wright has been serving a 15-game suspension related to domestic violence but needs to be activated today.
“Steven is healthy, we know he’s coming and the conversation is ongoing,” Cora said. “We don’t know yet (what the roster move will be), but obviously we have to make one. We’ll come up with a decision.”
Cora said he thinks all three catchers are capable of handling Wright, but he wasn’t sure how he planned on using him.
“We do feel in certain games it’s a change of pace and just like Hector and Brian Johnson, we can get nine outs in certain situations, we can reset the bullpen,” Cora said. “Not just throwing him out there in a blowout but in a game we’re up three or four. He can go out there and give us quality innings and finish the game. We’ll see.”
Baby steps for JBJ
Jackie Bradley Jr. singled in the ninth inning for his first hit since May 4. He’s in a 6-for-57 (.105) stretch with 27 strikeouts and no extra-base hits. …
Andrew Benintendi cut down the potential tying run at the plate in the seventh inning. It was the sixth time since the start of 2017 he’s thrown out a runner at home, and five of those six represented the tying or go-ahead runs. Benintendi is also riding a sixgame hitting streak. …
Dustin Pedroia will start his rehab assignment with Triple-A Pawtucket tonight and is expected to play six innings at second base. He’ll start as the designated hitter in tomorrow’s game. “He wants big crowds,” Cora said.