BOSTON -- What's worse than a hometown player being booed at Fenway Park?
How about abject indifference, which is what greeted Boston Red Sox pitcher Joe Kelly when he walked off the mound with two outs in the fourth inning of Tuesday night's 6-4 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. When expectations are so low to begin with, it's almost as if the fans collectively decided it wasn't worth expending the energy.
Booing Mike Napoli after he struck out for the fourth consecutive time? Well, that comes in part from the frustration of knowing the Red Sox first baseman is capable of so much more, like the five home runs he hit in the span of six games after a mid-air mentoring session from Dustin Pedroia on the way back from Seattle last month.
Evidently, the lesson didn't take, because in the 26 games since that mini-revival, Napoli has sunk back to the depths, batting just .182 (17 for 88) while striking out 30 times, better than once every three at-bats. Miami slugger Giancarlo Stanton has struck out 31 times in that span, but he also has hit 14 home runs and knocked in 26 runs, dwarfing Napoli's two and eight.
Napoli was dropped to the No. 8 spot in the order Tuesday night, the first time he has hit that low in the lineup since he was with Texas in 2012. Manager John Farrell indicated that Napoli will probably be on the bench Wednesday against Orioles right-hander Bud Norris, against whom he has fared poorly (2-for-15, eight strikeouts).
"Rough night for Mike," said Farrell, after Napoli struck out four times in a regulation nine-inning game for only the fifth time in his career. His other 4-K game this season came in a 19-inning win over the Yankees April 10 in which he came to the plate nine times.
But it was another whiff from Kelly, in Boston's first game back after taking two of three from the AL Central-leading Royals in Kansas City, that left the Sox playing catchup all night and Farrell acknowledging that dropping Kelly from the rotation is grist for future conversation.
"Haven't had a chance to review all that," Farrell said in the immediate aftermath of a loss that dropped the Sox 9 1/2 games behind first-place Tampa Bay, that deficit a by-product in great part of the dismal 10-22 record the Sox have in the AL East.
"But we're certainly aware of the up-and-down pattern with Joe at this point."
Kelly had pitched passably in his last four starts, high pitch counts resulting in two outings of five innings apiece and two of six innings, but his departures coming with the Sox either ahead or tied at the time. But the Orioles hit him liberally Tuesday night, especially in the second inning, when he gave up three singles and a three-run home run to David Lough, the No. 9 batter in the Orioles' lineup.
"My command was off today," Kelly said. "I couldn't throw the fastball where I wanted to and fell behind some hitters, which ultimately led to the big inning."
Eventually, he was charged with a yield of five runs in 3 2/3 innings, the sixth time this season he has allowed five earned runs or more. Four of those starts had come in succession (April 22-May 9), and he'd had just one disaster since then (7 earned runs in 1 2/3 innings against the Twins on May 25).
Kelly's spot in the rotation had been in jeopardy once before, but after he pitched six strong innings against Oakland on June 6, Farrell elected to send Steven Wright to the bullpen and keep Kelly in place. Tuesday, Wright was sent back to Pawtucket to make room for the return of Justin Masterson, who will be used in relief for now.
But Kelly's inconsistency -- not to mention a 2-5 record, 5.67 ERA and six Sox losses in the last seven games in which he has taken the mound -- probably has him back on the bubble again.
"There's no questioning the stuff," said Farrell, who by now has to have grown weary of prefacing his critique with that qualifier. "It's the inability to stick with a game plan because of the mislocated pitches."
Kelly went to a full count on five of the 19 Orioles batters he faced. The first one was Jimmy Paredes, who took a called third strike for the second out of the game. After that? Lough homered on a 3-and-2 fastball, Chris Parmelee doubled on one, and Chris Davis and Travis Snider both drew walks.
Of the 57 fastballs Kelly threw Tuesday night, despite velocity that touched 98 miles an hour, the Sox right-hander got only two swings and misses.
"I've got to go out there and be a little more consistent," he said.
He's only 26, so there's time. But with the Sox clinging to a faint hope of climbing back into contention, this is hardly the place for trial and error.
