The Red Sox lost 7-2 to the 111-loss White Sox on Sunday after a disastrous top of the ninth inning.
Red Sox pitcher Zack Kelly delivers to a White Sox batter in the ninth inning Sunday. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)AP
Manager Alex Cora had both closer Kenley Jansen and righty Zack Kelly warming in the bullpen before the ninth.
Cora said he wanted to use Jansen only in a save situation if the Red Sox had taken the lead in the eighth. With the game tied 2-2, he used Kelly who gave up five runs on five hits and one intentional walk while recording just one out.
Cora also said setup man Chris Martin was unavailable. Martin hasn’t pitched since Sept. 3.
“He’s sick,” Cora said about Martin. “He’s around but not feeling well. We gave him one more day. He’ll be available tomorrow.”
Kelly allowed four singles and one double. He pointed out that the White Sox didn’t have a hit with more than a 90 mph exit velocity.
“Just unlucky and obviously didn’t make pitches when I needed to,” Kelly said. “I’ve pitched worse than that and given up zero runs.”
Cora said about Kelly: “Lack of execution, to be honest with you. He’s had some good ones (outings), really good ones when he’s on and then that happens. I think as far as like execution today, talking to (catcher Connor) Wong, talking to Bails (pitching coach Andrew Bailey), he wasn’t there. I think we tried to go cutter to somebody and it was middle-middle. Some changeups in the zone. We’ve been talking about that. It’s not one good outing during the week. With that stuff, we expect more. We want him to be like a big dog in the bullpen. That’s the reason he pitched the ninth. Because stuff-wise, there’s not too many guys like him. But we’ve gotta be consistent. That’s the most important thing. And there’s a few things he needs to work on to accomplish that.”
