Diamondbacks' Pitching Staff Bounces Back for Tight Series Win

The Diamondbacks' pitching staff managed another shutout against Colorado.

Arizona Diamondbacks Merrill Kelly (29) pitches against the Colorado Rockies at Chase Field in Phoenix on May 18, 2025. / Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Colorado Rockies by a tight score of 1-0 behind excellent pitching. Merrill Kelly took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, and a Ketel Marte home run made up the only scoring by either team.

Kelly fell just one strikeout shy of tying his career high, fanning 11 Rockies hitters over the course of seven dominant shutout innings. He allowed only one base hit, a double that barely snuck fair down the left-field line.

In all, Kelly collected 16 whiffs, 11 of which came on on his changeup. The veteran righty did have to labor through the contest, throwing 109 pitches, only 60 for strikes. That resulted in three walks, but none came around to score. Kelly lowered his ERA to 3.26 ERA, and his FIP to 3.48.

At 109 pitches, Kelly's was the longest outing by a D-back in almost two years (Gallen 110 on 2023-06-04).

— AZ SnakePit (@AZSnakepit) May 18, 2025

In the sixth inning, Kelly stranded his lone double with a heads-up fielder's choice, running down Jordan Beck between second and third base. Kelly then forced a ground ball double play to end the threat, and capped off his outing with a pair of strikeouts and a 1-2-3 seventh.

Manager Torey Lovullo had high praise for his starter in his postgame press conference.

"[Kelly has] a great heartbeat, a great understanding of what it takes to go out and execute. Nothing fazes him. Whether he went out there and dialed up seven innings of one-hit baseball, or he gets banged around for four or five runs, he's going to be the same guy walking in the dugout after the game in the clubhouse and start his work day tomorrow.

"I went up to him after the sixth inning. I said, 'How are you feeling? I need everything you've got for this next inning,'" Lovullo said.

Kelly told reporters postgame that, while he wished he could have gotten ahead of hitters more efficiently, he was pleased with his final results.

"I can't sit here and say it wasn't good, with the line that we walked away [with]. If I'm being completely honest with myself, not getting ahead of people, the walks obviously I'm not happy about, but at the end of the day, if I can not feel my best and walk away with what I did today ,then I can't beat myself up about it.

"And the fact that we were able to fight until the end and keep it the way it was and scratch a costly win after yesterday .Overall, a really good day," Kelly said.

Arizona's offense was similarly dead silent after the first. Marte, just the second batter of the game, shot a laser of a line-drive home run past the pool in right field. Marte finished his day 2-for-3 with a homer, single and walk.

Outside the All-Star second baseman, Arizona managed just two other base hits, both singles, off the bat of Jose Herrera and Geraldo Perdomo. Corbin Carroll went 0-for-4, snapping a five-game hitting streak.

Arizona worked a pair of walks in the eighth, but first baseman Josh Naylor struck out, and Eugenio Suárez hit into a double play to spoil the threat.

Then, as it so often does, trouble began in the ninth inning. After Kevin Ginkel tossed a 1-2-3 scoreless eighth, Shelby Miller entered for the save with a mere 1-0 lead to protect. Miller, coming off a 36-pitch tightrope save in San Francisco.

Miller issued a single, a double and an intentional walk to load the bases. Then, Rockies first baseman Michael Toglia destroyed a fastball off the plate. Fortunately for Miller and the Diamondbacks, the ball went straight into the waiting glove of Perdomo, and the D-backs came away with a tight series win over Colorado.

"With all things considered, what we went through last night, to come out and win a one-nothing game, I'm really proud of this team," Lovullo said. "It was easy to lose focus, get down on yourself, expect something really bad to happen, but our guys blocked all that out and you win a one-nothing game.

"I talked to them, I say these things to them. I said, 'When you're prepping out there and you're getting ready for a game, pretend that you're going to win every game one to nothing.' And we did, and I think everybody was just super engaged defensively, and the pitching was fantastic," Lovullo said.

The Diamondbacks are now 25-22, and will begin a tough series in Los Angeles against the vaunted Dodgers Monday.