The pitching matchup in the Red Sox and Indians’ Wednesday night game featured a pitcher who predicted that he would win the Cy Young award but has had a subpar season facing off against the reigning American League Cy Young award winner.

So it figured that the pitchers switched roles with reigning Cy Young winner Corey Kluber of the Cleveland Indians surrendering four home runs and six runs over six innings while the Boston Red Sox’s Joe Kelly, owner of a 5.37 ERA, fired six innings, surrendering one unearned run, helping the Red Sox  to a 6-4 win over the Indians with newly hired President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski watching from press level.   

With the win, Boston claimed the rubber match of a three-game set between a pair of cellar-dwelling teams.

Kelly received plenty of support from his teammates as the Red Sox struck for six runs off of Kluber, all by way of the long ball.

David Ortiz kicked off the scoring in the bottom of the second inning when he launched a towering fly ball to right field that landed in Cleveland’s bullpen, just beyond the reach of right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall, giving the Red Sox an early 1-0 advantage. Travis Shaw, who has been tremendous at the plate recently, swatted a low fastball offering to left field. The high fly ball had just enough distance and height to clear the top of the Green Monster, pushing the Red Sox lead to two runs.

Two innings later, it was the red-hot Jackie Bradley Jr. going the opposite way for a three-run home run over the Green Monster, giving the Red Sox a comfortable 5-0 lead. Ryan Hanigan made it even more comfortable when he crushed a home run to the back row of the Green Monster directly after Bradley’s shot.

Meanwhile, Joe Kelly was on cruise control through the early innings. He did not allow a hit until the fourth inning at which point he surrendered two consecutive singles to Francisco Lindor and Michael Brantley, putting Kelly in a first and second, one man out jam. Kelly then induced a double-play ground ball to escape the jam.

Kelly gave up his lone run in the fifth inning. Chisenhall singled to lead off the inning and advanced to third when Red Sox second baseman Josh Rutledge botched a potential double-play ground ball, allowing Yan Gomes to reach at first base. Abraham Almonte grounded into a double-play that would have ended the inning had Rutledge not made an error on the previous play. Chisenhall  scored on that play to cut the Red Sox lead to 6-1. Kelly allowed a single and a walk after the double play but struck out Jason Kipnis to end the inning.

It appeared the Red Sox would cruise to an easy victory but the Indians rallied off the Red Sox bullpen in the eighth inning.

Lefty reliever Tommy Layne took over for Alexi Ogando and struck out two batters sandwiched around Brantley’s one-out single. Layne was yanked from the game in favor of Jean Machi who promptly walked Jerry Sands and surrendered a three-run shot to Gomes. The rout promptly turned into a tight 6-4 game.

The Red Sox were set down in the eighth and brought in temporary closer Junichi Tazawa who was 0-5 in save opportunities to close the game. Tazawa induced a fly out to Rusney Castillo in right field and two groundouts to nail down his first save of the year.


Notes:

Outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. continues to impress as, besides his three-run home run, he made a spectacular leaping catch in deep center field in the first inning. The Red Sox stay at Fenway and host the American League leading Kansas City Royals for a four-game series.

Wade Miley will battle Danny Duffy in the first game of the series followed by ace Johnny Cueto versus rookie Henry Owens who will make his fourth major league start.