From the ever-expanding collection of strange ballplayer injuries: Joe Kelly hurt himself cooking.

Kelly said he threw a Cajun feast for some of his teammates: chicken, red beans and rice, and crawfish. He said his back tightened up on him as he spent five hours minding the boiling crawfish.

“He was cooking some Cajun food,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I guess he was standing a little longer than he wanted to. That’s what he told me.”

Roberts is well aware of the catalog of curious injuries that tend to befall baseball players.


“That’s one of the more unique ones,” Roberts said. “I guess the message is, I’ve got to keep him away from the stove.”

Well, some Cajun dishes take longer to cook than others.

And how was the feast?

“Everyone ate it,” Kelly said. “There were no leftovers.”


The Dodgers scratched Kelly from his scheduled appearance Wednesday night because of the injury. However, Kelly completed a bullpen session Friday and said he experienced no discomfort. Roberts said Kelly could return to Cactus League action “in the next few days.”

In December, the team signed him to a three-year, $25-million free-agent contract, to be the key setup man for closer Kenley Jansen. Kelly has been on the disabled list four times in his seven-year major league career, but never because of a back injury.

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