Kelly quickened his tempo between pitches Monday, relative to his previous start, and delivered four shutout innings, the Boston Globe reports. The better tempo led to more strikes. "It gets my body going towards the plate better," Kelly said. "Get myself in a more athletic windup. Ultimately it allows me to command the strike zone a lot better. I could put the fastball where I wanted to."

EDGE Analysis

Kelly allowed three hits and a walk while striking out three on the day, but more encouraging than the tempo was his ability to work out of men-on-base situations. The Pirates had men in scoring position in three of Kelly's four innings, but he was able to make pitches when needed.