Joe Kelly recorded a pair of strikeouts after trotting out from the Boston Red Sox bullpen for a scoreless 1 1/3 innings against the New York Yankees last night. Normally it wouldn’t be headline news that a reliever struck out half the batters he faced in a small sample, although in Kelly’s case it represents a promising improvement.
When manager John Farrell summoned Kelly in the top of the 7th inning, Boston trailed by three runs and the Yankees had loaded the bases. Kelly managed to get Starlin Castro to ground out on a ball hit right at second baseman Marco Hernandez, although that’s probably not the scenario Farrell had in mind when he called for Kelly.