The Red Sox chose to option reliever Zack Kelly to Triple-A Worcester in order to create space on the active roster for Brayan Bello’s return on Tuesday.
Kelly had a difficult start to the season, giving up 10 runs in 10 innings pitched. In a defeat to the Chicago White Sox on Sunday, the right-hander’s most recent performance didn’t go well at all. Kelly hit two batters and gave up three runs without recording an out.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora made sure to give the 30-year-old a message before he went down to the minor leagues because that was probably the last straw for Kelly.
According to Sean McAdam of MassLive, Cora informed reporters, “We spoke with him.” The way things transpired, we advised him to move on from the previous appearance. It comes down to consistency, in my opinion. Is one enjoyable outing each week sufficient? It does help, though. However, we are aware that there is more. We are aware of that.
A club capable of winning a championship may use this player as a back-end reliever. All we need to do is get there. The entire issue about predictions, we have to flip the page and we have to execute. And he knows it.”
Cora noted improvements for Kelly need to come in narrowing his pitch mix and being more aggressive in attacking batters, particularly regularly throwing first-pitch strikes.
