Following his demotion to the minors, Red Sox starting pitcher Joe Kelly showed a lot of positive signs in his first start for Triple-A Pawtucket on Sunday, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits and one walk in seven innings. He also struck out four.
"The fastball command was a lot better," Kelly said, per The Providence Journal. "It's important obviously to get ahead of hitters with well-located fastballs, especially against this team which is aggressive. I tried to get some quick outs and easy outs."
Kelly threw 14 of 26 first-pitch strikes. He also threw 59 of 94 pitches for strikes, while getting 13 strikes looking and eight swinging strikes, per Baseball-Reference.com.
"I made a conscious effort to mix some pitches today and throw inside to hitters, and I feel like I was able to do that effectively," Kelly said.