Joe Kelly Rebounds From Poor Spring Debut

After telling Red Sox fans he was planning to win the American League Cy Young Award this season, Joe Kelly didn’t exactly get off to the best start this spring, allowing four runs on seven hits in 1 2/3 innings in his spring training debut on March 5.

The 26-year-old followed that up with a strong showing, however, as the righthander went three full innings against much of the Yankees’ A-team on Wednesday en route to a 10-6 Red Sox win.

Kelly was perfect through the first two frames, striking out Brett Gardner, Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann and Garrett Jones, while also inducing ground outs from Jacoby Ellsbury and Alex Rodriguez.

Kelly ran into trouble in the third, as he couldn’t work around a leadoff double by Jose Pirela despite getting Austin Romine and Cito Culver to ground out and line out, respectively. Ellsbury singled to bring Pirela home from third, while a walk to Gardner and a single by Beltran scored Ellsbury for the Yankees’ second run. A McCann ground out ended the inning, while also putting a stamp on Kelly’s afternoon.

His final line for the day read three innings pitched, allowing two runs on three hits with a walk and four strikeouts.

Kelly represents interesting potential for the Red Sox and could be the starter who takes a much larger role this year. A veteran of three big league seasons, Kelly holds a 21-16 record with a 3.41 ERA in 78 games – 48 of them starts. He’s already pitched in 11 postseason games in his young career, including four starts for St. Louis during their run to the 2013 World Series, where they were beaten by the Red Sox in six games.

Acquired from the Cardinals in the deal that sent John Lackey to the Red Birds, Kelly certainly isn’t lacking in the confidence department. And he pitched pretty well for the Sox down the stretch last season, outside of a ghastly outing against the Houston Astros on Aug. 17, where he allowed seven runs.

Whether he can step up and work himself into the ace that the Red Sox are lacking, however, remains to be seen.