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Red Sox reliever escapes big jam with Justin Slaten (side) hurt: ‘It’s nothing I’m not used to’
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- Red Sox reliever escapes big jam with Justin Slaten (side) hurt: ‘It’s nothing I’m not used to’
BOSTON — Justin Slaten has been an early-season bullpen standout for the reeling Red Sox , striking out five batters in 3 ⅓ shutout innings over four games so far. Facing a seventh-inning jam Tuesday, though, manager Alex Cora went to Zack Kelly to replace Garrett Crochet after 107 pitches.
The reason? Slaten was unavailable — and is day-to-day — with side soreness.
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“He has a sore oblique on the right side. I don’t want to call it an oblique, but it’s on the right side. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow and then we’ll go from there.”
The Red Sox will know more about Slaten’s status Wednesday when they finish their homestand with a matinee rubber game against Milwaukee . On Tuesday, though, it was Kelly who entered the game in a near-impossible spot — and delivered.
After dominating for six innings, Crochet went out to the mound with a newly formed 3-0 lead in the seventh and quickly hit the wall. Joey Ortiz and Sal Frelick singled before Blake Perkins worked a one-out walk. Crochet’s final pitch of the evening hit light-hitting ex-teammate David Hamilton and made it 3-1. With the bases loaded, one out and star Christian Yelich coming to the plate as a pinch-hitter, it was time for Kelly to face a high-leverage spot on a 44-degree night at Fenway.
“The phone rings and it gets pretty warm really quick,” Kelly said.
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Kelly missed with his first two pitches before working his way back into a 2-2 count. On the sixth pitch, Yelich smoked a grounder at 98 mph toward third base, where Caleb Durbin made a nifty stab and threw to second base for the force out. A run scored to make it 3-2.
“Caleb saved the game with that play,” said Cora.
Kelly then fell behind William Contreras , 2-0, and again got two consecutive strikes before Contreras similarly squared up a sinker (at 99.5 mph) into the left-side hole. Trevor Story , who a half-inning earlier had put Boston ahead with a two-run double, stabbed it on the backhand and fired to first to end the inning and preserve the lead. The Red Sox went on to win, 3-2, and improve to 3-8 this season .
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“Giving my guys a chance to make a play, which we did,” Kelly said. “He (Story) made a lot of good plays tonight. Trevor’s one of our guys and we’re always confident he’s gonna come through.”
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For Kelly, who was a surprising end-of-camp cut recalled to the big league team once Johan Oviedo went on the injured list with an elbow strain after a week , the outing was an early-season highlight. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was effective enough to preserve a win for Crochet.
“Garrett’s our guy and he did his job tonight. That’s what he does,” Kelly said. “When we need him, he comes through for us and he battled really hard tonight. To be able to come in and do the job for him was good.”
Kelly, who turned 31 last month, didn’t debut until his age-27 season and because of time missed due to injuries, still has minor league options remaining despite pitching in the majors for the fifth straight season. After a strong finish to 2025 punctuated by an impressive postseason showing, he was thought to be a lock to crack the Opening Day roster . That changed when he struggled with command late in camp and the Red Sox chose to carry both Connelly Early and Oviedo (as a piggyback option) on the roster.
A frustrated Kelly went to Triple-A for one week and was on the road with the WooSox in St. Paul when he was recalled last Thursday. At this point, he’s hoping to stick.
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“It’s nothing I’m not used to,” he said. “Obviously, camp didn’t go the way I wanted but it’s just coming up here and feeling good about the work I put in. It’s frustrating, at times, to ride that train but you either let it hinder you or you do something about it.”
If Slaten has to miss any time, Kelly is someone, along with lefty Danny Coulombe , who might be trusted with more high-leverage opportunities ahead of setup man Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman , who combined to face the minimum six batters Tuesday.
“I think it’s something that’s earned,” Kelly said. “Earning the trust from Bails (Andrew Bailey) and A.C. (Alex Cora) is part of it. That’s all I can really control, to come into whichever spots they give me and just do my job.”
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