BOSTON — Brandon Workman and Joe Kelly made the cut for the Red Sox American League Division Series roster, beating out Heath Hembree and to a lesser extent, Bobby Poyner.
None of the selections qualify as a surprise. The only suspense for some time has been how the Sox would shape the back of their pen for this best-of-five meeting with the Yankees in the first round. Game 1 is tonight at Fenway Park.
Kelly was always a favorite to make the 'pen, even as he struggled in September, to the tune of an 8.31 ERA. He finished the year with a 4.39 ERA overall, with 68 strikeouts and 32 walks in 65 2/3 innings.
One important statistic about Kelly: he allowed just four home runs on the season. He had the third-lowest rate of home runs allowed on the team, behind Nate Eovaldi on Ryan Brasier (among pitchers with at least 20 innings thrown, starter or reliever.) Even if Kelly doesn't get as many whiffs as people believe someone who throws 100 mph should, he also doesn't get burnt as badly as other pitchers, and that's important against a Yankees team that set an all-time major league record for homers.
"We have to keep them in the ballpark," manager Alex Cora said generally Thursday. "That's the most important thing. I think they from top to bottom they can hit the ball out of the ballpark. It's a tough lineup. Like I've been saying, there's heat maps. There's red and there's blue. We have to pitch to blue. If we do that, we're going to be in good shape."
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All four home runs Kelly allowed this season came on the road.
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Hembree was Cora's go-to guy with runners on for much of this season. He finished the year with the fourth-best strikeout rate on the team, behind only Craig Kimbrel, Barnes and Chris Sale. But Hembree allowed as many home runs in 19 2/3 innings in the second half, five, as he did in 40 1/3 innings in the first half.
Hembree has upside, but the fact that he hasn't pitched well recently had to hurt him, and help Workman, who doesn't have the strikeout stuff Hembree does.
The Sox may just believe Workman is more likely to execute his pitch.
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Speaking generally to NBC Sports Boston about bullpen management on Thursday, Cora brought up an example with Hembree when asked about what is the tiebreaker when looking at matchups and which pitcher to use.
"We felt Heater was our guy for a while," Cora said. "He throws a fastball up to [Tyle White of the Astros] and he decides to throw a slider. Double off the wall. At the end, if he gets it down, he’s out. If he hangs it, it’s a double off the wall. It’s execution at the end."
Cora said in recent days that the Sox' opponent could dictate whether they carried a lefty in the pen. While lefty starter Eduardo Rodriguez is in relief, he'll likely be used for length purposes, rather than going after a specific hitter. Had the Sox played the A's, who lost the wild-card game to the Yankees, Poyner, another lefty, probably had a better shot at making the roster.
The full roster:
Pitchers (11): Matt Barnes, Ryan Brasier, Nathan Eovaldi, Joe Kelly, Craig Kimbrel, Rick Porcello, David Price, Eduardo Rodriguez, Chris Sale, Brandon Workman, Steven Wright
Catchers (3): Sandy Leon, Blake Swihart, Christian Vázquez
Infielders (7): Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, Brock Holt, Ian Kinsler, Mitch Moreland, Eduardo Núñez, Steve Pearce
Outfielders (4): Andrew Benintendi, Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., J.D. Martinez