It is no secret that relief pitcher Joe Kelly has gotten off to a rocky tenure with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Entering Thursday’s series finale against the Chicago Cubs, he had been charged with earned runs in seven of his first 10 appearances.
Despite that though, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts went to Kelly with a 2-0 lead in the eighth inning on Thursday. Kelly was tasked with facing the heart of the Cubs’ lineup.
He got the first two batters out, but then gave up a long single off the right-center field wall to Javier Baez to bring the tying run to the plate.
It wasn’t easy, but Kelly eventually struck out the next hitter to escape the threat and complete a scoreless inning and the Dodgers went on to hang on for the victory in the ninth.
After the game, Roberts explained why he went to Kelly in that situation despite his previous struggles, as seen on SportsNet LA:
“I think it should show a vote of confidence. It’s one thing to talk to a player and tell him you believe him, believe in his stuff and we need him. To back that up and put him in leverage, I think that really sends a message to him. Today, I thought as far as sequencing, his fastball, driving it in there, shape to the breaking ball, the changeup, for me it was as good as we’ve seen him so far.”
One other factor that could have gone into Roberts’ decision is that Dylan Floro is dealing with a minor shoulder injury and Roberts preferred to stay away from him. Thus, that made Kelly’s performance even bigger considering he stepped up in his teammate’s absence.
The hope is that Kelly can now build off Thursday’s game and string a few more good ones together in the coming week, building his confidence back up in the process so he can be a key contributor for the Dodgers all season long.
The Dodgers envisioned Kelly playing a key role out of the bullpen when he was signed to a three-year, $25 million contract during the offseason.
