At this rate, the Tampa Bay Rays might never lose a baseball game, and they’re leaving opponents dumbfounded in the process.
The Rays tied the modern MLB record on Thursday for the most consecutive wins to start a season, beating the 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 2.2 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 that he used to strike Reese McGuire out looking.
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Kevin Kelly, Painted 76mph Back Door Sweeper. 🧹
23" inches of Horizontal Break.
[McGuire doesn't necessarily agree.] pic.twitter.com/nINszBTdcr
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 13, 2023
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 towards the plate.
MLB fans were understandably impressed with that pitch. It was filthy.
This was how Twitter reacted
I want to see batters reaction when he watches this playback and sees the K was justified. https://t.co/db76DJobVm
— Columbus Trey (@ColumbusTrey) April 13, 2023
Horizontal movement of Kevin Kelly's sweepers today:
𝟷𝟿" 𝟷𝟿" 𝟷𝟾" 𝟷𝟿" 𝟷𝟿" 𝟸𝟷" 𝟷𝟿" 𝟷𝟾" 𝟸0"
𝟸0" 𝟸𝟷" 𝟷𝟿" 𝟷𝟿" 𝟸0" 𝟸0" 𝟷𝟿" 𝟷𝟾" 𝟸𝟹"Remember that home plate is 17" wide. 🔥🧹🔥 https://t.co/wsYdKGsgfh
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) April 13, 2023
That's not fair. https://t.co/0z20WFy7F7
— Kevin Warner (@KevinAWarner) April 13, 2023
Omg this is FILTHY https://t.co/fcUahliso1
— Fupa Doncic (@kingjames0199) April 13, 2023
WHY DO THE RAYS TURN THE MOST RANDOM DUDES INTO A FILTH MACHINE https://t.co/ynmkCJh3eG
— luke's guy walker (@oldtwiz) April 13, 2023
I understand his frustration, they should outlaw witchcraft and magic for pitchers https://t.co/PlXYUWQygg
— Adam (@CenTexAg) April 13, 2023
Me: who the hell is this guy?
Also me: oh, he’s a Rays pitching bot https://t.co/q2mhcySS8P
— Bat Flips and Nerds (@batflips_nerds) April 13, 2023
This should be illegal. What are hitters supposed to do with this? https://t.co/NGmVE7HgvZ
— Kyle Brebner (@kyle_brebner) April 13, 2023
Rays pitching lab is generational Kevin Kelly is the name of a mailman not an MLB reliever doing this https://t.co/1JnDPGScmB
— jak (@pepperjakcheese) April 13, 2023
McGuire is going to feel quite humbled when he watches that replay. Kelly just threw an unfair pitch.
