D-Backs survive in Atlanta after stellar outing from star pitcher

The marvelous Merrill Kelly had a perfect game through four innings and retired the first twelve batters on Wednesday night. Kelly didn’t allow a hit until the bottom of the sixth inning with two outs to Ronald Acuna Jr. It was another brilliant outing for Kelly as he pitched 7 scoreless innings of one-hit baseball, he was practically untouchable.

It was a slow one on Wednesday, as it was a pure pitcher’s duel at Truist Park. Chris Sale pitched six innings and only allowed one earned run on three hits. The D-Backs were able to make that mark though when Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a single to right that scored Geraldo Perdomo to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning.

Arizona’s stressful bullpen:

Ryan Thompson came in to take over for Kelly, and quickly gave up singles to Alex Verdugo and Sean Murphy. Justin Martinez entered after and struck out Austin Riley in dramatic fashion as Atlanta left the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth.

The Snakes were able to get an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning after Tim Tawa was able to reach base. Ketel Marte was captain clutch again and hit a single to left scoring Tawa and giving the D-Backs a 2-0 lead.

Justin Martinez looked shaky in the ninth, as he walked two batters and hit Luke Williams to load the bases. Martinez couldn’t find the strike zone as he walked in a run in the bottom of the ninth. Atlanta left bases loaded again after Martinez was able to persevere through and get Michael Harris III to strike out to end the game.

The Snakes take the series and will look to get the sweep on Thursday morning over the Braves at Truist Park in Atlanta.