Rays reliever Kevin Kelly threw pitch with 23 inches of break that left Red Sox's Reese McGuire fuming
The Tampa Bay Rays are leaving opponents dumbfounded in the process.
The Rays tied the modern MLB record Thursday for the most consecutive wins to start a season, beating the Boston Red Sox, 9-3, for a 13-0 start. An early arm injury to starter Jeffrey Springs forced the Rays to go with a bullpen game, and Kevin Kelly was up for the task.
Kelly's sweeper and sinker both had some ridiculous movement in those 2⅔ innings as he threw 31 pitches with at least 18 inches of horizontal break. But no pitch was more impressive (or more hilarious) than the 23-inch sweeper he used to strike out Reese McGuire looking.
The pitch was nasty enough, but McGuire's reaction took it to another level. McGuire seemed adamant that home plate umpire Nic Lentz missed the call. Yet, the pitch was absolutely on the money and caught the outside corner.
That's just the reaction of a player who didn't think a pitch could move 23 inches like that. And, to be fair, the ball probably looked outside before that aggressive movement toward the plate.
MLB fans were understandably impressed with that pitch. It was filthy.
McGuire is going to feel quite humbled when he watches that replay. Kelly just threw an unfair pitch.