Merrill Kelly's Has Worst Outing of 2023 in Loss to Giants

Merrill Kelly had his worst outing of the year as the Giants defeated the Diamondbacks 7-6 to pull within 1.5 games of first place in the NL West.

Oracle Park has become somewhat of a house of horrors for Kelly. Coming into this game he was 1-4 with a 5.40 ERA in seven previous starts by the bay. Both those numbers got worse today. He was knocked around from the very beginning of the game, given leads of 1-0 and 5-3, both times he was not able to protect them. Instead a deluge of hard contact from Giants hitters was too much for a D-backs offense that fought valiantly to come back. The D-backs have been known all year as the "Answerbacks", but the Giants gave them a taste of their own medicine.

Ketel Marte got things started for the with a solo homer in the top of the first against "opener" Ryan Walker. The ball just cleared the wall in right, traveling an estimated distance of 337 feel. It was his 13th homer of the year and third on the road trip. That lead wouldn't last long.

The Giants jumped on Kelly right away in the bottom of the first when Lamont Wade Jr. hit a double into the right center gap. Kelly got Thairo Estrada to hit a shallow fly to center, but Corbin Carroll lost it at the last second and the ball clanked off his glove for an error, giving the Giants first and third with nobody out. A force out scored Wade Jr. and then Michael Conforto hit a sharp double down the left field line to score Wade Jr, making the score 2-1. It was Conforto's 3rd RBI double of the series. The Giants tacked on another run in the third with a Blake Sabol RBI base hit, upping their lead to 3-1.

The Diamondbacks answered back on long man Keaton Winn and Sean Manaea. A four run 5th inning, capped by a three run double from Christian Walker gave Arizona a 5-3 lead. Marte also had an RBI base hit earlier in the inning.

That lead was short lived however when Kelly promptly coughed up two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Estrada singled, and Joc Pederson drilled a change up into the right center gap. The ball that got by Jake McCarthy and rolled all the way to the wall at the 415 mark in Triples Alley. He later scored from third on a sacrifice fly from Sabol. Then in the bottom of the 6th a Brandon Crawford single was followed by a two-run homer from Luis Matos, the first of his career. that ultimately provided the winning margin

That chased Kelly from the game with a final line of 5 IP, 7 runs 5 earned on 10 hits, 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. His record fell to 9-4 and his ERA went up to 3.22. Kelly was frank after the outing. "I just didn't have it today. I knew pretty early that it was going to be a grind. I just picked a bad team to have a bad day against."

Talking about the fifth inning he said the pitch he really regretted was the Changeup to Pederson who saw four fastballs, fouling off two but taking two just inside off the plate. Kelly said he felt in the back of his mind that Pederson was sitting changeup but he threw one anyway, and while the pitch was down, Pederson was ready for it.

The D-backs rallied in the top of the ninth against closer Camilo Doval working for the second straight game. Marte drew a one out walk, and moved up to third on Walker's third hit of the game. Gurriel Jr. singled just through the hole into right to score Marte and walker went to third. Pinch runner Alek Thomas moved up to second on defensive indifference and the D-backs had second and third with two down by just a run 7-6. Unfortunately Pavin Smith struck out, ending the game and ending his day 0-5. Smith is now batting .196 with a .658 OPS.

Corbin Carroll also had a tough day. In addition to his error in the first inning he went 0-5 as well and struck out twice, once in a key situation. He's just 9 for his last 44, .205 with two walks two homers and seven strikeouts.

Torey Lovullo isn't concerned about his young superstar. "First of all he spoils us, these runs happen in this game. Maybe a little bit of chase on soft stuff down at the bottom of the zone is what it looks like to me. He can't drive the bus every day, other guys gotta pick up the slack for him"

The offense has been doing their in general. After scoring five runs in each of the previous four games and scoring six today they could have done better than a 2-3 record, but the pitching staff has also surrendered 26 runs in this stretch.

The D-backs will hope to salvage the series finale tomorrow at 1:05 P.M. Ryne Nelson pitches for the D-backs and Anthony DeSclafini toes the the rubber for the Giants.