Kelly does 'Merrill things,' goes 6 strong in bounceback effort

MIAMI -- Coming into Thursday’s 2-0 loss against the Marlins at loanDepot park, Arizona’s starting pitchers had posted a 6.01 ERA over their previous 12 games, with the D-backs dropping nine of those contests.

Manager Torey Lovullo emphasized how much the team needed Merrill Kelly to go out there and do “Merrill things,” especially as he felt the club had been very tense coming into the game.

So Kelly went out and held the Miami offense, which entered with a collective .269 batting average in June, to two runs on four hits -- all singles -- over six innings.

For Lovullo, what stood out was Kelly's entire arsenal, the sequencing and the ability to execute in key moments. To him, once Kelly gets on a roll, he gets fast and easy outs, controls the count and finishes off hitters, which was the case on Thursday.

“I can just tell by his body language when it's right,” Lovullo said. “He just had that swagger today, where it was his turn and his time to take the mound and get it done.”

Kelly used all six of his pitches and mixed in the changeup, four-seamer and curveball for the most part, retiring the final seven batters he faced in order.

He holds a 5.46 ERA through 11 starts this season, and even though his strikeout percentage is down from last season -- 22.3% percent last year compared to 13.5 percent this year – Kelly effectively pitched to contact, recording 15 outs via a flyout, popout or groundout.

He also issued only two walks after seeing his walk rate rise from 6.4 percent in 2025 to 9.6 percent this season.

“[The Marlins] got a pesky lineup over there,” Kelly said. “They don't really swing and miss much, [so I was] just trying to get some early contact, get some weak contact. I feel like I did a pretty good job today.

“Obviously, the walks ... like, one of them for sure scored. … I have to do a better job of limiting [those].”

In the opening frame, Otto Lopez scored on a sacrifice fly by Xavier Edwards. Lopez had moved to second after a balk by the right-hander following three consecutive disengagements and later stole third in the inning. Kyle Stowers also worked a walk in the first and led off the fourth with another, eventually crossing home plate after Jakob Marsee singled.

Besides that, Kelly was in a groove.

“I did a good job of putting some zeros up after they scored those,” Kelly said.

He held Miami scoreless in the second, third, fifth and sixth innings, sending the Marlins down in order each time. Kelly felt like he was in pretty good control throughout the game, and recorded his lone strikeout to begin the sixth inning when Stowers was called out on strikes.

The right-hander eventually ended his day with 74 pitches through six innings before Lovullo went to the bullpen. Brandyn Garcia and Paul Sewald combined to strike out three batters over the final two innings.

The outing was an encouraging step forward for Kelly as he looks to regain consistency following a pair of uneven starts. Kelly was coming off a rough outing against the Nationals on June 5 in which he allowed seven runs over five innings of work. He had also surrendered five home runs across his previous two starts, so limiting him to six frames was important for the D-backs skipper.

“He dialed it up really good,” Lovullo said. “I clipped him a little bit early, knowing what he ... was coming off of his last start. I just thought it made sense, like the matchups behind him … [but] he was fantastic for six. It was a great effort.

“He kept us in the game, did all that he could.”