Joe Kelly, Red Sox fall apart against Rays

By Neal Nachman
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Updated: April 22, 2015

It’s not the loftiest of accomplishments, but Joe Kelly had been the most successful of the Red Sox starting pitchers through the early weeks of the season.

The righthander overwhelmed the Yankees in his first start then pitched well into the sixth inning against the Orioles in his next turn. For a team with a still-dubious rotation, his improvement was a welcome development.

Kelly continued that on Wednesday night, using a high-octane fastball to hold down the Tampa Bay Rays for five innings. His teammates, meanwhile, scored five runs and built a four-run lead.

As he took the mound in the sixth inning, Kelly had thrown only 68 pitches. He was in position to deliver two more innings and give the bullpen a little rest.

“I try and take pride in that kind of stuff and try to go as deep as I can in the game,” Kelly said.

Instead, he did not get another out. The Rays scored four runs on Kelly in the sixth inning, then kept scoring against the bullpen to beat the Red Sox, 7-5.

“It’s tough, yeah,” Kelly said.

The reversal was startling. Kelly allowed one run on four hits through five innings. He had struck out seven without a walk.

Asdrubal Cabrera, Evan Longoria, Desmond Jennings, and Allen Dykstra had singles as the Rays scored a run. When Kelly walked Logan Forsythe on four pitches, he was finally taken out of the game.

“The inability to get a key out or a strikeout to shut things off, that was elusive,” Sox manager John Farrell said.

Cabrera hit the first pitch. Kelly then fell behind Longoria (3-0), Jennings (2-0), and Dykstra (1-0).

“Fell behind with my fastball, which was pretty good for me tonight,” Kelly said. “Tried to get too fine with it and fell behind hitters and had to throw it down the middle. They put good swings on balls and got some good hits.”

With a four-run lead, most pitchers would have been more aggressive in the strike zone.

“I was trying,” Kelly said.

With the bases loaded, Craig Breslow came in and Tampa Bay pinch hit for lefthanded-hitting Kevin Kiermaier with righthanded-hitting Brandon Guyer.

Breslow got ahead, 0 and 2, then threw a fastball inside. The pitch wasn’t a strike but Guyer got enough of the ball to loop it into right field and two runs scored to make it 5-5.

Breslow wasn’t wasting a pitch; he was trying to jam Guyer.

“I got it in. I wanted to get it up a little more. If it’s in more than that, it doesn’t serve much of a purpose,” Breslow said.

The Sox held there. Breslow got two outs before Edward Mujica came in and struck out Steven Souza.

With Mujica (1-1) still in the game, the Rays kept hitting in the seventh inning.

Cabrera singled to right field and went to third when Longoria singled the same way. Allen Craig, who had come in to play right field in the fifth inning after Shane Victorino felt tightness in his right hamstring, was late throwing to third.

Cabrera scored when Jennings grounded into a double play. Jake Elmore, playing his first game for the Rays, homered to left field. All of the damage came off Mujica’s split-finger fastball.

“Everybody’s looking for that pitch because that’s my secondary pitch after my fastball,” Mujica said. “They hit that pitch. But I don’t think I made bad pitches.”

The Sox scored five runs on seven hits — two of them home runs — against Tampa Bay starter Nathan Karns.

Mookie Betts walked with one out in the third inning before Dustin Pedroia jumped on a fastball and drove it over the fence in left field. Pedroia, who hit seven home runs last season, already has four.

That Pedroia’s surgically repaired left hand is healthy has been evident in his ability to hit the high fastball with a big swing, something that has been missing for the better part of two years.

Hanley Ramirez walked with two outs in the inning. He was on the run when Mike Napoli hit a ball hard up the middle that deflected off Karns and rolled slowly into center field.

Ramirez hustled to third base and blew through the stop sign of third base coach Brian Butterfield to score. The throw from Kiermaier was off line.

The Sox went up, 4-1, in the fifth inning when David Ortiz homered deep to right-center.

Ryan Hanigan doubled to the gap in left field with one out in the sixth inning, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on a single by Betts. At 5-1, the Sox had what seemed to be a comfortable lead.

Trailing, 7-5, the Sox threatened in the ninth inning against Steve Geltz. Pedroia singled with one out. But Ortiz popped to left field and Ramirez grounded out.

Ramirez hit the ball hard up the middle but the Rays had their defense shifted and threw him out.

The Rays had lost five of six and were 1-6 at home.

“We needed that one,” manager Kevin Cash said.