Merrill Kelly and the Diamondbacks Drubbed by Dodgers 9-1

Kelly is still winless in 16 starts against the Dodgers.

Merrill Kelly took the mound tonight at Dodger Stadium seeking his first ever win against the Dodgers. He left it trailing 7-1 after five torturous innings, in a game the Diamondbacks would eventually lose 9-1

The pivotal moment of the game might have come in the very first inning. With runners on first and second and one out Max Muncy hit a ball down to Christian Walker at first. He spun and threw to Nick Ahmed who returned the throw to a covering Kelly for the 3-6-1 double play. Or so it seemed. Ahmed did not get very much on the throw and the play was overturned on replay review. 

The Dodgers never looked back. David Peralta laced an RBI double and Jason Heyward roped a two-rbi double of his own. The hit parade was on as the Dodgers would add a run in the second, two more in the third, and another in the 5th. There was some hard contact, but there was also a slew of soft contact and bloop hits that found outfield grass. Seven of the 12 hits Kelly allowed had exit velocities below 87 MPH and five of them were below 80 MPH. 

That's not to say it was all bad luck. Kelly said "Kudos to them that they can take those hits, the ones that aren't hit well and they drop them in and then you don't make a good enough pitch to he next guy and  they're really good at cashing those runs in". 

Torey Lovullo praised Kelly's effort to go as far as he could to save the bullpen but was frank about his performance. "I just feel like there were too many mistakes, maybe some hittable pitches".  Kelly is usually known for hitting the edges but he indeed made a lot of middle of the plate mistakes tonight.  There was also the question of whether Kelly was tipping his pitches. Lovullo seemed to hint that Nick Ahmed might have picked something up, but stopped short of making a definitive statement. 

"Nick Ahmed is as good as we have from watching from his vantage point. We do a lot of work in that area. It's possible. It's possible he was giving away some pitches in his glove to the runners on second base, and they were advancing that information to the hitter, which is perfectly legal "

Kelly only struck out one batter and also walked three as his ERA ballooned from 2.97 to 3.31 while his record goes to 10-6.  Kelly has now made 16 starts against the Dodgers and is 0-11 with five no decisions. No other pitcher since 1901 with 16 or more starts against the Dodgers has fewer than two wins. This level of futility is nearly unmatched in modern baseball history.  

Kelly has tied Joe Mays for the second most starts against an opponent without a win.  Mays was winless in 16 starts against the Guardians from 1999-2006. The dubious record for futility against one franchise is held by Herm Wehmeier who made 19 starts against the St. Louis Cardinals between 1948-1956 without getting a win. 

Told that Torey Lovullo expressed confidence in him against the Dodgers, Kelly at first seemed incredulous but then caught himself. "He said that he believes in me?  Against the Dodgers?  I mean I believe in myself against any team. I just think this is a team you can't afford to have an off night. Unfortunately I've had a fair amount of game likes that."

The Diamondbacks had little fight in this one. Clayton Kershaw issued a couple of two out walks in the first but escaped with a zero. A one out single by Corbin Carroll and a walk by Nick Ahmed gave the D-backs a chance to get back in the game in the second. Gabriel Moreno hit into his 14th ground ball double play to end the inning however.  Kershaw retired six straight before Carroll hit a solo home run to centerfield for the D-backs lone run.  Kershaw picked up his 12th win of the year against four losses. 

Scott McGough pitched the sixth and gave up two solo home runs, including a Mookie Betts career high 36th of the year.  From there a deflated and thoroughly defeated D-backs team limped the rest of the way through the game.   Torey Lovullo brought in the reserves in the 7th and then brought in catcher Jose Herrera to pitch the 8th inning. Herrera somehow managed to retire the side in order. 

The D-backs went out of their way to rearrange their rotation so they could have their two best pitchers, Zac Gallen and Kelly, start against the Dodgers. Yet each of the last two nights the Dodgers pounced for three early runs in the first inning. Last night they got to Gallen for six runs. 

"You don't budget for that," Lovullo said. "You don't think that's going to happen."  

With the loss, the D-backs record goes to 69-64. They fell out of a wild card playoff position, dropping a half game behind the Giants who beat the Reds tonight behind a near no-hitter from Alex Cobb. The series finale is tomorrow night here at Dodger Stadium, at 7:10 P.M. Brandon Pfaadt will start for the D-backs. The Dodgers are likely going with some sort of bullpen game and have not officially announced a starter.