Merrill Kelly Dominates, Josh Rojas Flashes the Leather

Box Score

The Diamondbacks defeated the Washington Nationals 3-1 behind the dominant pitching of Merrill Kelly and the outstanding defense of Josh Rojas. Kelly struck out 10 batters while walking just one, going seven innings on 92 pitches. The lone run was via a solo home run by Luis Garcia in the first inning, a high fly that just barely stayed inside the foul pole on it's way into the Diamondbacks bullpen. His record improved to 3-3 and his ERA dropped to 2.75. After the game, Kelly said this is as good as he's felt all year.

Kelly was backed by outstanding defense and just enough offense. Josh Rojas had three highlight worthy plays on the night. Shown a scorecard with an exclamation point, signifying a great play, next to three separate 5-3 ground outs, he grinned and replied "That's a pretty good night". Here is one of them.

Hard to get anything past Rojas. pic.twitter.com/r3hKT27HvB
— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) May 6, 2023

Corbin Carroll hit a solo homer from the DH spot in the order in the third inning to tie the game. It was an opposite field smash on a 95 MPH fastball away from Nationals starter Josiah Gray. Recovering from a knee injury, Carroll showed no ill effects at the plate. He is a frontrunner in the rookie of the year race and being able to do things like this is just one reason why.

Yeah...Corbin's just fine. 😄 pic.twitter.com/8EQp2lIEFy
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) May 6, 2023

The Diamondbacks scratched out two runs in the fourth inning with a couple of singles by Dominic Fletcher and Gabriel Moreno, and a walk to Geraldo Perdomo to load the bases. An RBI fielder's choice by Rojas and sacrifice fly by Ketel Marte plated the winning runs in the game. The D-backs had the chance to plate more runs in the game, as they outhit Washington seven to four, but went 0-8 with runners in scoring position.

Miguel Castro and Andrew Chafin each threw a perfect inning in the 8th and 9th respectively. Chafin picked up his 5th save on the year. For all intents and purposes he is the de-facto closer, even though Torey Lovullo refuses to admit that.

After the game Lovullo said tonight was "All about Merrill" , but also went on to praise his third baseman, saying he was playing "Gold Glove defense", and recounting once again how much work and effort Rojas has put in to improve his footwork and transition. Kelly also was effusive in his praise of Rojas' defense. During his post game interview he kept stealing glances at the T.V. monitor showing the end of the Suns game. When asked about Rojas defense, he not only locked in, but recounted every great play on the night.

Listen to Kelly and Lovullo talk about the win in the link below. With the win the D-backs record goes to 18-14. The climb to within a half game of the Dodgers in the NL West, who lost to the Padres tonight and fell to 19-14. San Diego is a half game back of the D-backs at 18-15 in the ultra tight NL West race.

Game two of the series starts tomorrow night at 5:10 P.M. It will be a battle of two young left-handers, Tommy Henry against MacKenzie Gore for the Nationals.