Recently Promoted Reliever Steps Up For Red Sox In Huge Spot

Boston Red Sox pitcher Zack Kelly

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Holding leads has been a struggle for the Boston Red Sox in 2026. During their first homestand of the season, the Red Sox have scored runs in 12 different innings. Eight times, their opponents have scored in the next half inning. Regardless of who's pitching, they haven't been able to find the shutdown inning.

On Tuesday, against the Milwaukee Brewers, the Red Sox scored three in the sixth inning to open the scoring. Garrett Crochet took the mound for the seventh with a high pitch count and loaded the bases before hitting David Hamilton to give the Brewers a run. He exited the game with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh inning.

With Justin Slaten unavailable, Red Sox manager Alex Cora gave the ball to Zack Kelly. He's been up and down between Triple-A Worcester and Boston over the past several seasons, but was ready to answer the call in a high-leverage spot on Tuesday.

"[Being up and down] is nothing I'm not used to," Kelly said. "I think that's something that's earned, right? Earning the trust from [Red Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey] and earning the trust from [Alex Cora] is part of it, so that's all I can really control, is just to come in in whatever spots they give me and be able to do my job."

He fell behind Christian Yelich, but was able to induce a ground ball for the second out of the inning as one run scored. With runners on first and third and two out, he got William Contreras to ground out for the third out, holding onto the lead. The Red Sox went on to win, 3-2, giving Crochet his second victory of the season.

"Garrett [Crochet] is our guy. He did his job tonight. That's what he does; when we need him, he comes through for us. He battled really hard tonight, so to be able to come in and do my job for him was really good," Kelly said.

The Red Sox finish a three-game series with the Brewers on Wednesday afternoon and have an off-day on Thursday to reset the bullpen. With Slaten potentially unavailable with an injury, as well as back-to-back outings for Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman, Kelly could find himself in another high-leverage spot.

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