A’s pitcher suspended for gambling returns to help struggling bullpen in win
The A’s bullpen, which has struggled mightily as of late, got back two familiar arms, including one who was suspended for a calendar year for betting on MLB games, ahead of their 14-3 win over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday.
Michael Kelly pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings in the contest while striking out two the same day he was reinstated by Major League Baseball. The right-handed pitcher inherited two baserunners with two outs in the seventh inning but got Twins infielder Jonah Bride to strike out swinging in a full count.
Kelly, 32, bet roughly $100 on nine games in 2021 while a member of the Houston Astros farm system, according to the Athletic. Three of the games he bet on involved the Astros, according to the report.
The righty was a key part of Thursday’s the pitching performance that snapped a stretch where the A’s lost 20 of 21 contests, including nine in a row. His return is a part of A’s manager Mark Kotsay’s attempts to fix the bullpen, which was a major cause of the losing streak.
Kotsay also tried using openers rather than traditional starting pitchers in both Tuesday and Wednesday’s games, but it didn’t work either time as they fell 10-3 and 6-1.
The bullpen had nine losses, nine blown saves and a cumulative 8.62 ERA in the 27 games leading up to Thursday. The pen’s overall ERA is the highest in MLB at 6.28 — more than a point higher than the highest season-long bullpen ERA in franchise history.
Kotsay, who said he found out he was the godfather of Kelly’s daughter on Thursday, said he was very close with the reliever in his previous time with the A’s and had been looking forward to his return. In 28 games for the A’s before the suspension in 2024, Kelly had a 2.59 ERA in 31 1/3 innings of work.
“When he walked out of the clubhouse, I told him to be focused on getting through this time and continue to prep to be back in a uniform and contribute,” Kotsay said. “To have him in a game today and to see him have success. It couldn’t have been a better part of the day.”
Veteran left-handed reliever T.J. McFarland was also reinstated on Thursday, but he was returning from the 15-day injury list after suffering a left adductor strain in mid-May.
The 36-year-old workhorse, who led the MLB with 79 appearances in 2024, was pitching to a 5.23 ERA in 18 games to start the season. McFarland threw 13 pitches Tuesday in a one-inning rehab assignment for the Single-A Stockton Ports and warmed up in the bullpen near the end of Thursday’s game.
“It’s just great to get both those guys back,” Kotsay said. “You don’t know, in terms of how they’re going to perform. But today was Day 1 for Michael and I thought he did a great job.”
This story was originally published June 5, 2025 at 7:01 PM.
