BOSTON — Joe Kelly has been using his full arsenal of pitches over the last month and it’s made a positive impact on his performance.
The Red Sox starter kept Philadelphia Phillies hitters off balance Friday night at Fenway Park in a 7-5 win. Kelly gave up two earned runs, five hits, struck out five and walked three on 106 pitches over six innings.
He’s now won seven consecutive games, a feat matched most recently in Red Sox history by Josh Beckett (2007), Curt Schilling (2004) and Pedro Martinez (1999).
That’s some pretty impressive company.
Kelly is relying less on his fastball during this stretch of victories. He’s mixing in his changeup and breaking balls to keep hitters guessing.
“He’s locked everything in,” Red Sox catcher Ryan Hanigan said. “He’s pitching now, he’s not throwing as much. He’s pitching and using all his stuff. At the same time, he can reach back and just throw a bunch of heaters past guys if needs to. He can do what he needs to do to get outs. Every hitter is different, every team is different, but he’s able to see what adjustments on what to use each night and bring a consistent repertoire every night.”
Before this prolonged period of success, Kelly was a candidate for the bullpen next season. The Sox have a lot of starters, many of them younger guys, competing for spots in the rotation in 2016. But if Kelly continues to provide quality starts and pitch at this kind of level, it’s going to be very difficult for the Red Sox to keep him out of the rotation next April.
“You get on a run like this, I think you feel good internally knowing you put this hard work in, you’re getting results and you’re graduating to the next level,” Red Sox interim manager Torey Lovullo said.
“Whatever that is inside of Joe, he’s in a very good place. We still have some baseball to play for the rest of this year. I know he wants to finish strong, have a good offseason and be ready for next year. I don’t think he thinks too far in advance.”
August arguably was Kelly’s best month as a major leaguer. He went 6-0 with a 2.68 ERA and gave up two earned runs or fewer in five of his six starts. One great month doesn’t mean anything unless it builds into consistent success, and that’s what Kelly needs to establish heading into the 2016 campaign.
So far, so good after one September outing.
— Mookie Betts tallied two doubles and now has eight extra-base hits in his last 10 games. His hit streak also extended to 10 games, the longest of his brief MLB career.
— Xander Bogaerts, who went 2 for 4 with an RBI, entered Friday with a .319 batting average, which ranked third in the American League and eighth-best in all of baseball. He now has 46 multi-hit games, the most on the team.
— The first four hitters in Boston’s lineup (Betts, Brock Holt, Bogaerts and David Ortiz, in that order), combined to go 11 for 14 with five RBIs and four runs. Betts, Holt and Bogaerts each had two hits.
— The bullpen is a major concern for Boston heading into the offseason. The group came into Friday with a 4.30 ERA, which ranks 24th in all of baseball. Jean Machi, who has been used in the closer role of late, gave up four hits and three runs in the ninth inning. It nearly cost the Red Sox a win.
— Hanley Ramirez, who recently made the switch from left field to first base, didn’t play Friday. Allen Craig started at first. Lovullo said Ramirez still is dealing with a sore right shoulder.
— Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia is progressing well in his recovery from a hamstring injury. He’s played in just six games since June 24.
“Dustin is hitting all his check points, aggressively,” Lovullo said. “It’s getting close for him, and we’re all in it with him. We’re all excited by what we’re seeing and what we’re hearing. He’s putting on spikes. He’s aggressively running the bases. He’s continuing to run flat to build up some endurance in the outfield, pole to pole. He walks in after his work day. He is really, really excited. That’s nice to see.”
— Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval left batting practice early and was scratched from the lineup. Travis Shaw replaced him and batted fifth. The Sox later announced Sandoval was suffering from mid-back tightness. Lovullo said the move to take Sandoval out of the lineup was for precautionary reasons and that he’s considered “day-to-day.”
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
