With everyone talking about Clay Buchholz and Eduardo Rodriguez regarding the rotation spots, it seemed that it was a fact that Joe Kelly was going to come out of the bullpen once he returned from his DL stint.
Kelly was sent to the DL on April 19 with a shoulder injury, but his last Pawtucket start was encouraging. The righty pitched through 6.1 scoreless innings and 10 strikeouts to end his AAA rehab with a 1.26 ERA in three starts.
Even though Kelly ended his 2015 season on a high note, expectations were low for today’s game.