Kelly dominates as Arizona wins series
PHILADELPHIA – Two and a half months into his major league career, Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly is beginning to feel like his starts are sort of like a normal day at the office – nothing more, nothing less.
“It’s more just a baseball game,” he said, “than a major league baseball game.”
For Kelly, who tossed 72⁄3 innings of shutout ball in Wednesday night’s 2-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies, this is the best he can offer for what has changed for him during a dominant four-start run.
It has been a welcome sight for the Diamondbacks. Their starters had failed to advance beyond the fourth inning either of the past two days. On Wednesday, they learned right-hander Jon Duplantier was returning to Phoenix for an MRI on his shoulder, yet another blow to the club’s ever-thinning rotation depth, which already has been tested by injuries to Luke Weaver and Taijuan Walker.
Kelly could hardly have time his rise to dependability more perfectly. Over his past four starts, he is averaging more than seven innings per outing, has 1.86 ERA and has held opposing hitters to just a .188 average. He was nearly unhittable on Wednesday. He gave up three hits – only one for extra bases – did not walk a batter and allowed only a handful of other balls that seemed to even test the Diamondbacks’ defense.
“He’s been really good,” Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed said. “He had a couple of tough outings which he didn’t like, but he’s given us length, he’s doing a great job attacking guys and I think he’s going to keep going because he looks really good.”
After sweeping an underwhelming Blue Jays team in Toronto, the Diamondbacks took two of three from the firstplace Phillies. They slammed a club record eight homers on Monday night. They got excellent relief work throughout the series. They eked across just enough offense on Wednesday.
“We love winning series; that’s what we set out to do,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “It’s been a very good road trip for us so far. But it’s onward. We have to turn the page, get over the D.C. and take care of some business.”
In recent weeks, Kelly has developed a better feel for his cutter, a pitch he can now go to more consistently in big situations. On Wednesday, he was locating his fastball and using his curveball effectively. When he has them working, he said, hitters have to respect the fact he can throw any of those pitches in or outside of the strike zone.
He also has mentioned a slight mechanical tweak that helped smooth out his delivery, but he seems to think his recent success is more a product of something a little less tangible.
Kelly, 30, is a rookie in the majors. He spent the previous four years pitching in Korea. In returning to the States, he said he is beginning to take things more in stride in his new workplace. He is getting used to his teammates, the travel, the daily routine. “It’s just becoming more normal,” he said.
And he thinks that’s translating on
the mound.
“I’ve felt more like myself,” he said. “I don’t feel like I’m guiding the ball. I don’t feel like I’m trying to do too much. I don’t feel like I’m trying to go outside myself. The ball is coming out the way I think it should.”
The closest thing to drama came in the seventh. After the Phillies’ J.T. Realmuto beat out an infield single with two out, Scott Kingery followed with a hard shot in the hole on the left side. Ahmed gloved it on a dive and fired a one-hop throw to first, where Christian Walker scooped it for the out, though Kingery initially was called safe before a review.
“When I dove, honestly, I didn’t think I was going to get there, but I did,” Ahmed said. “Just tried to get rid of it as fast as I could and Walker made an unbelievable pick over there to finish it off. Thankful for instant replay.”