Suspended Red Sox pitcher Joe Kelly proved to be a man of the people when he enjoyed the weekend series at Fenway Park in the bleacher section, along with the regular folks.
Kelly's suspension prevented him from watching the games in the dugout, the press box, or the bullpen, USA Today reported. (He received a six-game suspension earlier this month for participating in a brawl against the New York Yankees. Major League Baseball denied his appeal.)
Kelly watched some of Friday's game with the Tampa Bay Rays from the top of the Green Monster in left field, USA Today reported. But Sunday, he wandered all over the bleachers, where he met fans, posed for photos, and tried to give the Sox some good luck along the way.
It seemed to work.
"I was in the suite and we weren’t getting any runs and we were losing, so I moved and went out to the bleachers. We got a couple of runs," Kelly told Boston Sports radio station WEEI. "I moved to another location and that didn’t work, so I moved to the Sam Adams Party Deck and we ended up getting the runs."
Boston ended up taking Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay 4-3, putting them at 20-7 for the season so far.
Suspended or not, the fans ate it up.