Arizona Diamondbacks' Starter Has Interesting Footnote in Baseball History

With a dominant performance in Game 2 of the World Series, starting pitcher Merrill Kelly is now part of some fun and quirky baseball history.

The World Series resumes on Monday night in Phoenix for Game 3 with the series tied at one game apiece.

The Rangers took Game 1 thanks to a walk-off home run from Adolis Garcia and the D'Backs rebounded for a resounding 9-1 win in Game 2.

Tommy Pham went 4-for-4 in the win while Merrill Kelly tossed 7.0 dominant innings as well. He allowed just one earned run on three hits, walking none and striking out nine.

He's now 3-1 in these playoffs and owns a fun and unique part of baseball history.

Per MLBTradeRumors:

Kelly has a 2.25 ERA over four starts and 24 innings in these playoffs, and holds an interesting distinction as the first pitcher to earn a win in both the Korean Series (helping the Wyverns capture the 2018 title) and the World Series.

Kelly pitched four years in the KBO and didn't even debut in the majors until the age of 30. Now 35, he's become a hugely valuable member of the D'Backs rotation, having been there since 2019. He's 48-43 lifetime with a 3.80 ERA. He won 12 games this year, going 12-8. He won 13 games in both 2019 and 2022.

In addition to the KBO/World Series footnote, Kelly also started the final of the World Baseball Classic for Team USA this past March. The USA would lose that game to Team Japan.

Game 3 of the World Series is set to begin at 8:03 p.m. ET. Max Scherzer gets the ball for Texas while Brandon Pfaadt pitches for Arizona.

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