Joe Kelly, Dave O'Brien the latest victims of Red Sox flu epidemic

Providence Journal - 4/9/2017

April 08--DETROIT -- Mookie Betts rejoined the Red Sox at Comerica Park on Saturday, having flown from Boston once his flu symptoms subsided enough for him to do so.

Joe Kelly, meanwhile, has succumbed, and stayed behind at the Red Sox team hotel in Detroit on Saturday -- making him the latest victim of an epidemic that has swept through the clubhouse. Hanley Ramirez remained back in Boston with illness that forced him to seek treatment on Friday, and it's not likely that he'll travel to Detroit at all.

Despite the team's best efforts, the strains of flu that first appeared during spring training only continue to claim victims. Even NESN play-by-play announcer Dave O'Brien gave up the microphone in the middle of Saturday's game due to illness, forcing studio host Tom Caron to do play-by-play remotely.

"This hasn't been able to be contained from one certain group to another or a couple of guys," Boston manager John Farrell said. "There's three different things that are going around -- one's a respiratory one, one's flu-like symptoms, and one is the full-blown flu."

The absence of Kelly on Saturday, at least, was less impactful given the desire of Farrell to stay away from him regardless. Kelly threw 27 pitches over two innings on Wednesday and then issued a pair of walks as part of a bullpen implosion on Friday. Kelly said afterward that he'd been too cautious with James McCann and JaCoby Jones, a pair of hitters one would expect Kelly to overpower.

"In that situation, if he falls behind McCann as he did, I can understand, with a base open, to not just give in," Farrell said. "Ideally, in a perfect world, you're not falling behind. But, obviously, it puts added pressure on making sure you're going to attack the next guy and record the out."

To Farrell, the culprit in that inning was the inability of Kelly, Heath Hembree and Robby Scott to throw a pivotal pitch with two strikes. Hembree was a pitch away from striking out Justin Upton, Scott a pitch away from striking out Mikie Mahtook, Kelly a pitch away from striking out Jones.

"We had three consecutive hitters at 1-2 counts, and we didn't have the ability to finish the hitter off," Farrell said.

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