Why Is Ted Lilly Pitching?

Lilly has been battling shoulder soreness for awhile now and was sent out to pitch. Other than allowing 4 runs in the 1st inning, he had an excellent start. He settled down and threw 6 scoreless innings after that 1st inning. Unfortunately, Lilly’s fastball only averaged 84.8 mph. That’s down 2.5 mph over his season average of 87.3 mph. His fastest pitch today was just barely over that season average (88.1 mph). I don’t know if Ted Lilly is injured, but one of the biggest signs of injury is a big loss of velocity and his velocity was **** today. He got by against a ****** team, but if Lilly can’t throw anything harder than 88 mph then there was no reason for him to even be out there today.