Merrill Kelly will look to win his eighth consecutive decision when the Arizona Diamondbacks face the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night in Phoenix.
The 34-year-old right-hander will try to help the Diamondbacks bounce back from Tuesday’s 15-3 shellacking in the second contest of a four-game series. Arizona won Monday’s opener 9-8 before having its six-game winning streak halted.
Kelly has won his past five starts while posting a 2.55 ERA and striking out 36 in 31 2/3 innings during that span. At 8-3 with a 2.92 ERA overall, he is tied for the National League lead in victories and is a strong candidate to make his first All-Star Game.
Kelly hasn’t lost a start since April 22 against the San Diego Padres. Since then, he is 7-0 over eight outings and has allowed one earned run in half of his starts.
Kelly gave up a season-worst seven hits while beating the Detroit Tigers on Friday. He allowed three runs, walked two and struck out five.
Kelly is 1-1 with a 1.98 ERA in two career starts against the Phillies. Trea Turner is in his first season with Philadelphia but has consistently worked over Kelly, going 8-of-19 with six RBIs.
The Phillies have 23 runs and 33 hits in the first two games of the series. They had 20 hits — including eight for extra bases — and matched a season high for runs in Tuesday’s win. Kyle Schwarber and Bryson Stott homered, and Philadelphia stole four bases.
J.T. Realmuto, who hit for the cycle on Monday, is 6-for-8 with six runs and four RBIs in the series.
After a slow start, Philadelphia has won eight of its past 10 games to remind people it was the NL team that played in last season’s World Series. And Tuesday’s contest was the most impressive during the 10-game stretch.
“That’s more important than anything, playing good baseball against good teams,” Turner said. “We’re doing everything — pitching, playing defense, timely hitting.”
Tuesday’s setback was just the third in 15 games for Arizona, which allowed a season-worst run total during a substandard effort.
The ugliness included a play in the third inning in which hot-shot rookie Corbin Carroll caught a fly ball in left field. Carroll apparently forgot that was just the second out of the inning as he turned around to retrieve his hat off the ground. Realmuto noticed the gaffe and ran in from third to score.
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo looked at his team’s performance as the type that occasionally happens during the season.
“This was — for me — a total outlier,” Lovullo said. “We’ve been playing good baseball. We’ve just got to digest it, throw it out and be ready (Wednesday). The game just didn’t really have a rhythm to it.”
Carroll hit a home run in Tuesday’s contest, his fifth in eight games and 14th of the season. He is 16-for-32 (.500) in the eight-game stretch.
Philadelphia on Wednesday will start left-hander Ranger Suarez (1-2, 4.70), who has allowed one run in each of his last two starts.
Suarez gave up four hits and struck out a season-high eight in six innings during a no-decision against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday. Five days earlier, he beat the Washington Nationals while scattering eight hits over seven innings.
Suarez, 27, gave up five runs and five hits in five innings while taking a no-decision against the Diamondbacks on May 24. He is 1-3 with a 6.35 ERA in eight career appearances (five starts) against Arizona.
Ketel Marte (6-for-15) and Christian Walker (5-for-13) have fared well against Suarez. Evan Longoria has homered off Suarez.
Walker was 4-for-4 in Tuesday’s game.
–Field Level Media
