Merrill Kelly Rights the Ship Against the Rockies

After struggling with walks in his first five starts, he locked in against the Rockies and turned in a quality start.

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In his first five starts of 2023, Merrill Kelly had been struggling to  consistently throw strikes in key at-bats. Despite pitching in Coors Field, Kelly returned to form against the Colorado Rockies, holding them to one run in six innings as the Diamondbacks won 9-1. The key was limiting the walks, as he issued out only one free pass on the night.

"He looked like he had good tempo and good rhythm, and got into sequencing pitches and following a good game plan" said D-backs manager Torey Lovullo. "He just continued to make pitches. I don't think he was really in trouble at all and at different points in time I thought he made pitches to get out of a situation or two".

Kelly had to deal with a lot of traffic early on the bases, allowing six hits in the first three innings. He was able to pitch out of trouble, getting a double play to escape a first inning jam. The Rockies scratched across a run in the third, with C.J. Cron's slow roller through the right side of the infield tying the game. Kelly was in trouble again after walking Ryan McMahon to load the bases, but then retired the next 10 batters to close out his start on a strong note.

"I can just tell when he walks off the mound, what his expression is is telling me a story" said Lovullo. "I know he really wanted to go back out there and get on a run and he did that". 

Kelly would get the win after his teammates were able to break the seal against Kyle Freeland. Through the first six innings, their only run came on a Ketel Marte solo home run in the third. A leadoff walk to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in the seventh opened up an opportunity for Christian Walker to do some damage against the tiring lefty. Walker doubled to the left center field gap, giving Arizona the lead for good. The D-backs took advantage of Rockies miscues with some big hits to turn what was originally a pitcher's duel into a blowout.

Arizona will look to take the series tomorrow, sending young left-hander Tommy Henry (0-0, 6.23 ERA) on the mound to face rookie right-hander Noah Davis (0-0, 0.93 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 5:10PM MST.