BOSTON - Joe Kelly had been feeling it.
He had just struck out Yan Gomes to get out of a jam in the sixth inning, and even though he was at 100 pitches, he wanted more.
It makes sense for Kelly, a competitor, to want to head back out there for the seventh inning, but as enticing as it might be for Torey Lovullo to send him back out knowing the options he has in the bullpen, the manager made the correct call.
There's no sense in risking injury over three more outs, especially when that pitcher is pitching the best baseball of his season lately
Kelly won his fourth straight start, matching the longest win streak by a Red Sox pitcher this season (Clay Buchholz won four from Jun 18-Jul.4). It was also the first time all season he didn't allow an earned run.
The lone run that crossed the plate on Kelly's watch did so due to a fielding error by Josh Rutledge earlier in the inning.
Other than that mishap, Kelly and the Red Sox defense around him was superb. It also helped that they smashed four home runs and gave him a six-run lead to work with.
"We've been scoring a lot of runs so that always helps," Kelly said. "Just trying to keep hitters off-balance and not necessarily keep pounding fastballs away. Throwing some off-speed pitches for strikes and that's definitely helped, especially with guys on base."
As far as not being able to go back out there for the seventh, Kelly was fine with Lovullo's decision.
"He said if I wouldn't have thrown 105 pitches before he probably would have sent me back out there," Kelly said. "I was feeling good and came off of the big strikeout when we needed it. But obviously he's the skipper and he was looking out for the best of my health and everything else."
Kelly has posted a 1.56 ERA in his last three starts and has really stepped up in a time where the Sox are needing starting pitchers.
"He's looking like he's locked in," Lovullo said.