Joe Kelly made his first start in a Red Sox uniform against his former club last night. Kelly was up against Shelby Miller who is not only a former teammate, but one of Kelly’s best friends. Kelly pitched well in his debut, even though he would end up with a no decision for his effort. The Sox continued to have trouble scoring runs, but were able to get the go ahead run in the top of the 9th inning.
The Cardinals got on the scoreboard in the 1st when Kelly gave up an RBI single to Adams to score Carpenter from 3rd base. Sox 0-1. The game stayed 0-1 until the 4th inning when the Sox were able to tie it up. Xander Bogaerts hit an RBI double to score Nava. Sox 1-1. Kelly pitched through the 7th inning and looked like a welcome addition to the rotation. Kelly’s pitching line for the night was 97 pitches, 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 4 BB and 2 Ks. In addition the the positive pitching performance Kelly also got an infield hit off his good friend Miller in the 3rd. Kelly was initially ruled out, but upon review he was called safe and returned to 1st base. It was reported during the game on NESN that Kelly and Miller had a bet that whoever got a hit off the other first would win $100. It looks like Joe Kelly won that bet.
Junichi Tazawa took the mound in the 8th inning and pitched himself a scoreless inning and then the Cards closer Trevor Rosenthal took the mound in the 9th. The Red Sox weren’t able to get anything going against him on Tuesday, but had better luck last night. Cespedes hit a single, Napoli hit a double and then Ortiz was intentionally walked to have the bases loaded with no outs. The Sox were primed to have a big inning, but ended up only being able to get one across the plate. Bogaerts hit a sac fly to score Cespedes, but that was it. It ended up being enough for the win as Uehara took the mound in the bottom of the 9th. Koji gave up 2 singles and made all those of Red Sox Nation who stayed up a little nervous, but he was able to get the 3 outs and get his 23rd save of the season.
Red Sox 2 Cardinals 1 BOXSCORE
WP: Tazawa (2-3) LP: Rosenthal (1-6) SV: Uehara (23)
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