(Audacy) While playing for the Dodgers in 2020, reliever Joe Kelly made headlines by instigating a benches-clearing incident after he struck out and mocked then-Astros shortstop Carlos Correa. On Friday night, Kelly was again caught chirping at a former Houston player.
The scene unfolded when Kelly, now with the White Sox, fanned Athletics utilityman Tony Kemp swinging on a nasty 3-2 breaking ball to end the bottom of the seventh inning in Chicago's eventual 5-3 win.
Kemp objected to the umpire's ruling that he had swung at the pitch, but Kelly, on his way to the dugout, appeared to bark at Kemp that the pitch was in the strike zone even if Kemp hadn't swung. Kelly also appeared to pepper his rant with a choice 12-letter word that starts with "mother" and rhymes with "trucker." Kemp responded with a sarcastic thumbs up.
It was unclear whether Kelly's harsh words Friday were directly motivated by the infamous sign-stealing scandal that many believe tarnished the Astros' championship in 2017. Houston beat Los Angeles in seven games to win the World Series that season. Kelly pitched for the Red Sox in 2017, and they fell to the Astros in the American League Division Series.
Kelly made it clear that his brash, sad-faced mockery after striking out Correa in July 2020 was indeed revenge over the cheating revelations. Correa later exacted some measure of payback late last season, when he homered off Kelly, who was then with the Dodgers.
After the 2019 season, an MLB investigation found that the Astros had skirted league rules in 2017 and 2018 by signaling to their hitters what pitch was coming from the opposing pitcher by banging on a garbage can in their dugout. They illegally used video as part of the scheme.
Kemp was a seldom-used reserve with the Astros in 2017, but he saw more action in 2018, appearing in 97 games and logging 297 plate appearances. He was sent to the Chicago Cubs in a midseason trade in 2019 and was then traded to the Athletics during the following offseason.
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