I have to admit that Joe Kelly's Red Sox debut intrigued me enough to tune in, not that there were many other viewing options besides the MLS All-Star Game vs. Bayern Munich. I'm glad I did too as Boston (50-63 overall, 23-32 away) picked up a 2-1 win over St. Louis (60-52 overall, 32-25 home) in a 2004/2013 World Series rematch at Busch Stadium.
After a lengthy rain delay (over an hour) before it started and facing his former team, Kelly was nails (7 innings, 1 earned run, 3 hits, 2 strikeouts, 4 walks) which really showed me something. Let's just hope this isn't the highpoint of his time with the Red Sox.
Matt Adams (2 for 4) gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead in the first inning with an RBI single. Kelly's buddy Shelby Miller (7 innings, 1 earned run, 4 hits, 4 strikeouts, 1 walk) basically matched him pitch for pitch. Another good sign in this poop sandwich of a season is that Xander Bogaerts provided both runs for Boston. His RBI double in the fourth tied it at one then he knocked in the winning run with a sacrifice fly off closer Trevor Rosenthal (1-6) in the ninth.
The Red Sox had eight hits as a team (three more than the Cardinals) but only Mike Napoli notched two (both doubles). Junichi Tazawa (2-3) pitched a 1-2-3 eighth with one strikeout to earn the win. Koji Uehara worked around two singles in the ninth for his 23rd save of the season.
St. Louis won 3-2 on Monday so they'll both shoot for the series victory tomorrow night (7:15, NESN) as Brandon Workman (1-4) faces Adam Wainwright (13-6) in what is about as lopsided a matchup on paper that you could possibly find these days in MLB. Haha good luck Brandon or maybe I should say overmatched Red Sox hitters. For what it's worth (nothing), David Ortiz should be ready since he only pinch hit tonight and that was a four-pitch intentional walk.
UPDATE 8/7: Newly acquired Kelly Johnson was activated from the DL and Mookie Betts was sent back to Pawtucket (who are actually in a playoff race).
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