Kelly returns from Classic as sharp as ever

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Right-hander Merrill Kelly returned from pitching in the World Baseball Classic slightly behind in his preparation due to a lack of innings, but he looked sharp in his final Cactus League tuneup Sunday against the Brewers.

More important than the actual results was the fact that Kelly pitched into the fifth inning and threw 60 pitches.

That means that Kelly should be able to throw around 75 pitches or so in his first start of the year, which is scheduled for Friday against the Dodgers.

“I threw the ball well,” Kelly said. “Overall a solid changeup, fastball location was good. So feel good for the last one.”

Kelly had been working on a slider over the winter and early in camp, but he didn’t get a chance to throw it much in the WBC and didn’t use it often Sunday, so that’s still a work in progress.

“Definitely something that needs some more work,” Kelly said. “It's just something I’m going to have to see how it progresses before I use it [in the regular season] or at least before I deem it as something that's viable, or up to my standards.”