Dodgers' Joe Kelly shatters window while practicing pitch in backyard

ByABC News
April 16, 2020, 3:29 PM

Some major league pitchers are working on adding to their repertoire during the coronavirus pandemic, while others are using the downtime to help with projects around the house.

Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly accidentally found a way to do both at the same time on Wednesday.

In an Instagram Live video posted by his wife, Kelly was working on a changeup in his backyard, throwing at a bull's-eye in a large enclosed target. One throw, however, got away from him, missing the target completely to the right and shattering a window of his house.

"Wondering how quarantine is going?" Ashley Kelly asks in the video while panning to the broken bedroom window. "Joe was working on a changeup.

"That's cool," she said after another piece of glass fell away from the window. "Rad."

Joe Kelly joined WEEI's "The Bradfo Sho" podcast for a video interview Thursday and said he was using a heavy plastic tool called a CleanFuego -- which resembles a baseball cut in half -- when the accident occurred.

"I'm throwing the changeup and I'm trying to make it gyro," Kelly told the podcast. "... It catches, turns and hovers and -- boom! -- it goes through the window."

He said there was glass everywhere, but he retrieved the item and returned to the backyard for another 20 minutes to finish his throwing program.

"Got done, came back inside, got my ShopVac, cleaned for 3 hours," said Kelly, who added that he recruited a neighbor to help patch the window.

It is not the first time that Kelly has made headlines for odd reasons. Kelly, who signed a three-year, $25 million deal with the Dodgers prior to the 2019 season, was scratched from a spring training appearance last year after he hurt his back after  standing too long while cooking Cajun food.