Diamondbacks beat Yankees for 2-game sweep

PHOENIX — Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo was pleased to face a New York Yankees roster missing Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge and a bunch of other injured Bronx Bombers.

Ketel Marte homered, Merrill Kelly won his first start against the Yankees and Arizona beat New York 3-2 Wednesday to sweep a two-game series. MLB

D’BACKS 3

YANKEES 2

New York dropped to 0-5 this year against teams that currently have winning records, and is 17-8 against teams below .500. The Yankees had won nine of 10 heading into the series against the Diamondbacks but wound up heading home 6-3 on their western swing.

“How can you not say that you feel fortunate when they’re minus Stanton and Judge?” Lovullo said.

Kelly (3-2) allowed one run and five hits in 5 1⁄3innings as Arizona won for the seventh time in nine games. The 30-year-old rookie right-hander won consecutive big league starts for the first time.

He escaped a basesloaded jam in the fifth when Brett Gardner hit an inning-ending groundout, then gave up Luke Voit’s ninth homer leading off the sixth that cut Arizona’s lead to 3-1. Voit has reached base in 41 consecutive games, the longest for the Yankees since Mark Teixeira in 2010.

“Fastball command was some of the best I’ve had, which I was happy with, and I was able to throw the curve ball for strikes,” Kelly said.