Diamondbacks Task Merrill Kelly with Finishing Sweep of Padres

The Arizona Diamondbacks (36-34) have taken the first two games of a critical weekend series against the San Diego Padres (38-31). They're 2.5 games back of the final Wild Card spot and have passed the Cincinnati Reds in the standings.

Coming off an emotional win on Saturday, the Diamondbacks will send right-hander Merrill Kelly to the mound. A win would get them to 1.5 games out of the Wild Card, putting pressure on the Padres, Cardinals, and Brewers.

Pitching Matchup

Merrill Kelly (4-2, 3.18 ERA) shook off a rough outing against the Washington Nationals and takes a 15-inning scoreless streak into this start.

Kelly continues to age like fine wine on the mound and is having the best season of his career. In 14 starts in 2025, he's pitched to 3.18 ERA and a 79/21 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 82 innings. His 17.9% K-BB% is the highest of his career, surpassing the 16.3% mark from 2023.

This type of game is not new territory for Kelly. Last time out, he started after an emotional, walk-off win. He held the Seattle Mariners scoreless for six innings, striking out seven. In fact, Kelly has struck out at least six in each of his past seven starts. He's posted a strikeout rate of 30.5% and a walk rate of 5.3% over that stretch.

Another strong start would strengthen the argument for Kelly to make the National League All-Star roster.

Nick Pivetta (6-2, 3.48 ERA) got off to a blazing start, pitching to a 2.74 ERA in his first 11 starts in 2025. He's struggled since, allowing five runs in back-to-back starts. In 10 innings, he's struck out eight and walked three.

Pivetta throws from a very high arm slot and uses a north-south approach on the mound. He relies a lot on his four-seamer at the top of the zone and curveballs at the bottom. The two pitches account for nearly 70% of his pitches. He also utilizes a sweeper and a cutter for glove-side movement, and has introduced a sinker to his arsenal.

Due to his vertical arsenal, and propensity to throw fastballs up in the zone, Pivetta is an extreme fly ball pitcher. That makes him somewhat vulnerable to home runs if the batter is able to square him up. His homers per nine innings pitched is at 1.0, but his barrel rate is at 11.9% (ninth percentile).

The key for the Diamondbacks will be to lay off the elevated four-seamers and make him bring it down in the strike zone. In the lower two-thirds of the zone, Pivetta's four-seamer is yielding a .297 average and a .516 slugging percentage. Pivetta doesn't walk a lot of hitters, so expect Arizona to be aggressive early in the count against the heater.

Lineups

Check back later for lineups

Bullpen Situation

The Diamondbacks' bullpen is in relatively decent shape. They'll be without Ryan Thompson, who worked back-to-back days. Bryce Jarvis is on four days' rest and is available to provide length for the bullpen if needed.

Kevin Ginkel and Jalen Beeks threw Saturday, so both pitchers probably don't see more than one inning on Sunday if pressed into duty.

The Diamondbacks made Robert Suárez throw 25 pitches when they beat him on Saturday. Since he hadn't pitched in four days, it's still possible he's available to close for the Padres if they have another ninth-inning lead.

The rest of San Diego's bullpen should be available, as none of their relievers have pitched in back-to-back games.

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