Joe Kelly’s second turn back adds to Red Sox’s rotation worries

12:38 AM ET

TORONTO — Joe Kelly’s quest for consistent results ran into a familiar roadblock Friday. While Kelly did pretty well against the Blue Jays as a whole, there wasn’t much he or the Red Sox could do to contain Josh Donaldson.

Of the five runs and nine hits allowed by Kelly in a 7-5 Red Sox loss, three of the hits and three of the runs were generated by the reigning American League MVP. Donaldson opened the scoring with a solo homer in the first, lined an RBI double in the third and then delivered a bases-loaded single to shortstop to drive in yet another run in the fourth.

“I missed with the fastball,” Kelly said of Donaldson’s home run. “I hit my spot there with those fastballs, I could get a ground ball or a popup. Fall behind a guy like that who’s coming out the gate swinging, you don’t have much room to miss a pitch.”

Joe Kelly mops his brow in the dugout after being pulled in the fifth inning, having allowed five runs on nine hits and three walks. Fred Thornhill/The Canadian Press via AP

The righty also described the changeup he threw to Justin Smoak in the fifth inning as “a mislocation” that was crushed into the second deck for a solo home run. These mistakes were enough to give Kelly an early night, as he lasted just 4 2/3 innings.

Manager John Farrell thought his starter performed well apart from his encounters with Donaldson, and noted that Kelly’s roughest inning (the two-run fourth that saw eight batters come to the plate) was partially due to bad luck as much as ineffective …

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