Red Sox really need the good Joe Kelly again

BALTIMORE -- Tuesday night, the Yankees punched back.

The irony of Joe Kelly walking off the mound after not being able to get a third out in the sixth inning, moments after word came down that New York had agreed upon a trade for Zach Britton, wasn't lost on the knights of social media. Tyler Austin might have taken his lumps during his brawl with Kelly, but more than three months later the Yankees supplied their own kick in the gut.

And, at least for the time being, this was a painful one for the Red Sox.

While the Yanks were building the world's best bullpen for the final two-plus months, the Sox were once again left figuring exactly what they had and whether or not a counter-move should be made. The uncertainty this time was courtesy yet another disappointing outing from Kelly, who allowed three runs on two hits and two walks over just 2/3 innings.

"We need to get better. He needs to get better," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora of Kelly. "I don't know how we're going to do that but that's a guy who's very important to what we're trying to accomplish and right now we don't have that guy. We have to keep working, get him right, his stuff is there it's just a matter of trying to get him back to where he was."

Where Kelly was for about two months was one of the best set-up guys in the game. Where he has found himself is as the last guy in the Red Sox' bullpen, a victim of failed command and confidence.

"It's not been good. It gets kind of frustrating," said Kelly after the Red Sox' 7-6 loss to the Orioles. "It's not like they're hitting the ball out of the park and a lot of hard contact. Putting on guys on base for free, it's more me trying to find myself rather than back-to-back-to-back jacks. That's probably more frustrating. But it's the game of baseball. It's something I'll try and work on before the games, playing catch and simple stuff like that. We have a great staff here who have been helping a lot. I feel like I've been getting closer and once that comes around hopefully I can put up another streak like that." (For a complete recap of the Red Sox' loss, click here.)

The timing is terrible for this Kelly downturn.

If the Red Sox had full confidence that the reliever would be returning to his old form, the Britton acquisition wouldn't be nearly as daunting. With that pitcher, along with the continued success of virtually everyone else in the bullpen, a strong case could be made that there was no need for panic. Kelly was that good. Britton good.

They don't have that certainty, however. They also have only short glimpses of potential late-inning replacements Tyler Thornburg and Ryan Brasier. It leads to the question: Do the Red Sox need to pony up for the kind of certainty the Yankees just acquired? That's the conundrum Kelly has left them with.

"We have to trust him," Cora said. "He's very important for us. It just didn't happen."

"It's not the end of the world. I've pitched good before, I've pitched bad before. It's the game of baseball," said Kelly, who noted he has no physical issues. "I have all the confidence in the world in myself. I'm fighting out there and doing whatever I can to get back to where I was. We have a great staff here. We have the best in the world. We have the best pitching coach, the best manager, Brian Bannister. There are a bunch of guys you can put there. I feel like I'm getting closer. It's just that level of comfort to get back to where I was and go from there."