Diamondbacks turn to Merrill Kelly to win 4th consecutive series

Merrill "The Mainstay" Kelly hopes to pick up his 13th win of the season against an opponent he's had a lot of success against in his career.

Thanks to Ryne Nelson's historical debut, the Diamondbacks have an excellent opportunity to take their 4th straight series against a postseason contender. The team will be turning to their most consistent starter, Merrill Kelly, in the second game of the series to secure it. While Zac Gallen has rightfully earned all the accolades and praise for his scoreless streak, Kelly has been quietly keeping pace. In 8 second half starts, Kelly has pitched to a 1.99 ERA and a 53/12 strikeout to walk ratio in 54 1/3 innings.

Kelly has excellent career numbers against the Padres, going 8-2 with a 2.34 ERA and a 63/21 strikeout to walk ratio in 12 starts. At Petco Park, where he picked up his first career win in his MLB debut three years ago, he's 5-2 with a 2.95 ERA in 7 starts.

Opposing Kelly will be Joe Musgrove. The San Diego area native is having a splendid season for the Padres, going 9-6 with a 3.01 ERA and 149 strikeouts in 24 starts. Against the Diamondbacks he's 2-2 with a 3.92 ERA in 8 appearances (7 starts). In his one start against the D-backs this season, Musgrove allowed 2 runs in 6 innings in the third game of the season. He received a no-decision, but the Padres ultimately won 5-2.

Infielder Emmanuel Rivera is out of the lineup, he's had a rough last 3 games with 9 strikeouts in an 0-for-13 stretch. Pitchers have exploited him on breaking balls, which made him a bad matchup against Joe Musgrove.

Corbin Carroll and Daulton Varsho are back in the lineup with a righty on the mound tonight. Carroll will get the start at DH as the team tries to rotate all of their outfielders in this series.

Jorge Alfaro has been a thorn in the D-backs side all season long. The Padres catcher is hitting .370 with 6 extra base hits in 27 plate appearances against Arizona in 2022.

No Diamondback has good numbers against Musgrove, with Ketel Marte's .267 average in 15 at-bats ranking the highest on the team. With at least a third of the lineup in the minors the last time the D-backs faced Musgrove, it's not much to read into. On the flip side, no Padre with at least 10 AB against Kelly is hitting better than .200.