Joe Kelly pitched 6 innings, allowing only an unearned run (his first performance without an earned run in 2015), the Red Sox offense backed him with 4 home runs, Junichi Tazawa got his first save of 2015, and Boston beat Cleveland 6-4.

The Win:

Kelly started out hot by using a 2-seam fastball – probably his best out pitch – to get Jason Kipnis looking. But he needed a little help to escape the 1st unscathed. Shortstop Francisco Lindor cracked a fly ball to deep center, but Jackie Bradley, Jr. saved a double on a sensational full-sprint catch that required him to race back to the wall while fully extending his glove arm to his right side. He’s amazing.

From there on, Kelly continued to get help from his defense. He walked Lonnie Chisenhall in the 2nd, but got Yan Gomes to ground into a double play, 5-4-3, to get out of the inning. He gave up back-to-back one-out singles in the 4th, but Carlos Santana hit into a gorgeous double play to end the inning again, 3-6-1.

Even when second baseman Josh Rutledge botched a double play to get the first 2 outs of the 5th, letting the ball under his glove as the runner advanced to third, the very next batter (center fielder Abraham Almonte) gave Rutledge a second chance (of which he took advantage, 4-6-3). The run scored, but the bases were empty and the threat was gone. And when Kelly got himself in trouble again with two outs in the inning, giving up a walk and a single, he struck out Jason Kipnis (batting .321) for the second time on the night to escape. He also registered his 3rd strikeout of the night on Yan Gomes to get out of a 1st and 2nd situation in the 6th.

It’s possible that a game like this is Kelly’s ceiling. His stuff probably isn’t good enough to attack the strike zone with abandon, so his pitch count builds and he’s unable to get deep into his starts. But this was still a good effort. Bully for you, Pumpsie.

The Offense:

Boston’s batters, meanwhile, were facing off against one of the best pitchers in baseball, Corey Kluber. This is a guy who’s not only 5th in MLB in K/BB ratio, but also the league leader in batters faced (739), one of only three pitchers to have faced 700 or more in 2015. And coming into last night’s game, only 13 of Kluber’s 714 batters faced (he faced 25 Red Sox last night) had hit home runs.

But after going down in order in the first, the Sox erupted, sending back-to-back home runs by David Ortiz and Travis Shaw over the wall. Ortiz’s 492nd dinger was a classic pull to right field that juuust cleared the wall, while Shaw went to the opposite field, putting it over the Monster to make it 2-0.

Ortiz and Shaw couldn’t keep the ball rolling in the 4th inning (both struck out), but Pablo Sandoval hit a double in front of them and Rusney Castillo singled after them, setting the table for Bradley, who was coming off a night of rest. Like Shaw, he hit a home run the opposite way into the Monster seats, and drove in 3 runs to make the lead 5-0. Ryan Hanigan got in on the action too, hammering a slider from a defeated Kluber and driving it to the back row of the Monster seats.

Middle Game:

Alexi Ogando relieved Kelly for the 7th and did a bang-up job, more or less. He gave up a single to Almonte, struck out Giovanny Urshela, and got light-hitting Jose Ramirez to fly out to Rusney Castillo, who promptly…tossed the ball into the stands? Two outs, Rusney!

Almonte advanced to third on Castillo’s gaffe, but fortunately, Jason Kipnis’s tough night at the plate continued. He struck out for the third time, and it looked like Castillo only got a gentle ribbing in the dugout.

Tommy Layne fared equally well, striking out two batters and giving up a single in between, before giving way to Jean Machi, who’d been pitching suspiciously well for the Sox thus far. Personally, I have the feeling that those positive performances were kind of a fluke, especially after he walked pinch hitter Jerry Sands and gave up a game-altering 3-run home run to Yan Gomes. 6-4, Red Sox. Lest we forget, this man racked up a 5.14 ERA with Giants through mid-July.

The Save:

I finally saw the 9th-inning Tazawa performance I’ve been waiting for. He kept the ball low in the zone (erring towards bouncing his splitters rather than leaving them high), didn’t get greedy, and let Hanigan guide him through it. Foul out (nice play by Castillo), ground out (nice play by Sandoval), ground out. 2nd save of his career, 1st of 2015. I’m so proud.

Notes:

If you have this game recorded on DVR and haven’t watched it yet, fast forward to the top of the 8th to hear Don Orsillo tell stories about Terry Francona giving him an atomic wedgie and threatening to beat him up and actually beating him up. Gold.