Merrill Kelly Exits Early in Diamondbacks Loss to Phillies

The D-backs dropped the opener against the Phillies on the back of RISP struggles and a late bullpen blowup. While they failed to take this key game against Philadelphia it was the early exit of starting pitcher Merrill Kelly that created the biggest concern.

Merrill Kelly led the Diamondbacks onto the field on Friday, making a return to Citizens Bank Park, where he, along with the rest of the 2023 club, took on the Phillies during the NLCS. The veteran right-hander was coming off a streak of strong outings, allowing two or fewer runs in each of his last four starts.

Still, Kelly continues to be plagued by an issue which seems to be affecting the Diamondbacks' pitching staff as a whole. That being allowing first inning runs. This was the case once more in Philadelphia as after a strong start, a single from Trea Turner and double from Kyle Schwarber gave the Phillies an early lead.

Entering Friday's game, opposing hitters batted .370 against Kelly during a game's opening frames. Opposing lineups also posted a .667 slugging percentage with a 1.152 OPS, with five walks to only five strikeouts.

Phillies starter Jesus Luzardo took the mound on Friday against the Diamondbacks, ranking among the best pitchers in baseball. With a familiar face in Ketel Marte leading things off, the D-backs jumped on the left-hander early, but failed to score.

While no runs crossed the plate, in a continued trend from the Arizona offense, Luzardo's pitch count was forced high quickly. Through three innings of work, he already sat at 68 pitches delivered, with many coming in high-leverage situations, wearing him down quickly. Meanwhile, Kelly's pitch count sat at only 38 through the same distance.

The Diamondbacks answered back in the fourth inning, with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. leading the charge. A double from the left fielder was capitalized on by a Geraldo Perdomo single, his fourth RBI in his last three games.

Merrill Kelly settled down quickly, sending down seven straight after allowing the first run of the ballgame.

Gabriel Moreno belted his third double of the year, just missing a home run. The extra base knock extended his growing hit streak to six games, and marked his first barreled ball of the season. He also set up Gurriel once again who seems to be breaking out of his month-long slump.

A three-hit game from the left fielder gave the Diamondbacks a 2-1 lead, knocking the dominant Luzardo out of the game after only 5.1 innings, tied for his second shortest start of the season.

But the Diamondbacks wouldn't keep their starter in much longer, as Merrill Kelly who had been dominating the Phillies was forced to once again exit the game early. After throwing a warmup pitch, catcher Jose Herrera called the trainer out to the mound.

Manager Torey Lovullo confirmed postgame to Dbacks.TV's Jody Jackson that it was the same cramping issue for Kelly.

"It was the same situation that we've been dealing with, right hamstring cramping. And he was doing all that he could on a night where we really were thinned out in the bullpen. He was he was looking like he was going to carry the load for us, but it ended abruptly there," Lovullo said.

"He's going to be fine... when it pops up he's going to need a little bit of rest, but he'll be ready in five days."

Lovullo said it was "the most frustrated" he'd seen Kelly after a removal from a game.

"I feel for him. You know we hurt with him. We're going to figure this out with him. There's got to be a solution. I believe there's a solution to everything and we're going to figure this out," Lovullo said.

This left a tired Arizona bullpen in charge of closing out the ballgame. With Kevin Ginkel, Ryan Thompson, and Shelby Miller each presumably out for the game after a heavy workload in New York, it was rookie pitcher Juan Morillo who was the first man out of the pen.

The flamethrowing right-hander electrified the D-backs' dugout, striking out Bryce Harper to secure a scoreless frame, and to keep his perfect 0.00 ERA intact.

Jose Castillo the next man up for the Diamondbacks wasn't quite as fortunate. In his first outing in a D-backs uniform, the left-hander allowed a first pitch, game tying home-run to Kyle Schwarber. The blast not only tied the game, but paved the way for Max Kepler to give Philadelphia the lead two batters later.

Arizona's offense failed to recover after going just 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position, leaving seven runners stranded on base. The Diamondbacks also now fall to 2-7 against left-handed starters, a stat which while not as relevant against Luzardo, still punctuates a growing struggle against southpaws.

The D-backs will try and recover from this series opening loss on Saturday where play resumes 3:05 p.m. Arizona time.