The bad – Joe Kelly loses control, Carson Smith implodes
One of the more difficult aspects of being a major league manager involves handling the bullpen. Alex Cora learned that lesson the hard way.
In theory, Cora should not have had too much trouble with the Red Sox game against the Rays. Chris Sale appeared to be in midseason form, firing six scoreless innings. Matt Barnes fired a scoreless seventh inning, setting down all three batters he faced. With a 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth, Cora needed one more inning before he could turn to Craig Kimbrel.
With that in mind, Joe Kelly came out from the bullpen. That proved to be a mistake. He walked the first batter he faced, then struck out Rob Refsnyder for the first out of the inning. Matt Duffy followed with an RBI double to give the Rays their first run. After walks to Kevin Kiermaier and Carlos Gomez, Kelly was out, with Carson Smith coming in.
That was essentially pouring petrol on the fire. Smith walked Brad Miller to force in a run, cutting the lead in half. After Wilson Ramos struck out, Denard Span had a bases clearing triple to give the Rays their first lead, and scored on an infield single. By the time the inning was over, Kelly and Smith had combined to allow six runs on three hits and four walks, a disastrous performance.
The Red Sox seemingly had an Opening Day victory in hand. Then, one disastrous inning changed the game.