The Red Sox returned to Fenway Park on Monday after completing a 4-2 trip against the Chicago White Sox and New York Mets. Despite Sunday’s 5-4 loss at Citi Field, the Sox opened the homestand having won 10 of 16 games.

The offense has been leading the way in this late-season improvement. Young players like Jackie Bradley, Jr. and Travis Shaw have bolstered a team that surprisingly entered the week with the third-most runs scored in the American League.

That shouldn’t overshadow the work of the starting rotation. Coming into Sunday’s game, Sox starters had given up two earned runs or fewer in 11 of 15 games. The starters’ ERA in that 15-game stretch was second best in the AL.

The biggest improvement on the staff – if not on the entire team – has been the work of a pitcher who started the season in the rotation and was on the verge of being knocked out of it. With his win Saturday, Joe Kelly finished the month of August 6-0, becoming just the fourth Red Sox pitcher to win six starts in one month in the last 35 years. He joins Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens and Tim Wakefield on that list.

Pretty good company for a guy who seemed destined for the bullpen. Kelly had been sent there before, back when he was pitching for St. Louis. It was an obvious destination for a pitcher with a 97-mph fastball who had trouble mixing in his secondary pitches.

Now, he’s using a full arsenal to succeed as a starter.

“It’s been a point of emphasis lately,” Kelly told reporters after Saturday’s game.

“No matter what team we’re facing I have to throw off-speed. Early in the year, I was throwing all fastballs and that obviously didn’t work out. It’s just something we’ve been trying to make a point of emphasis early on in the game. Mix in some off-speed pitches and try to get the hitters off the fastball.”

It’s been working. Kelly posted a 2.68 ERA with a 1.24 WHIP in August.

“Early in the year, maybe he was just a thrower, trying to throw fastballs by guys, but we know that that’s not going to happen at this level,” said interim manager Torey Lovullo.

“He has started to pitch. He threw four straight change-ups today, and if you told me he was going to be able to do that earlier in the year, I would’ve said it would’ve been a challenge.

“He’s come a long way. He’s developing some pitches, confidence is there and he’s got three, sometimes four active pitches to left or right-handed batters at any time, and that’s very lethal.”

Earlier this season Kelly’s inability to throw anything other than his fastball was proving lethal to his hopes of being a big-league starter.

Now, the young Red Sox are playing their best baseball of the season. And Kelly is showing signs that he can be a part of this team for seasons to come.

Tom Caron is a studio host for the Red Sox broadcast on NESN. His column appears in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesdays.

Copy the Story Link