How Special Was Merrill Kelly’s Game 2 Start For The Diamondbacks?

In every postseason, the pitching path to victory looks very different than it does during the regular season.

Every pitch has more pressure behind it, the crowd is on their feet for every 2-strike or 3-ball count (depending on who’s the home team), and most importantly, managers are not very likely to let a pitcher ‘figure it out’ if they lose the zone or are getting hit well.

But regardless of how the starter is performing on a given game, it seems as though they’re rarely given the chance to go deep depending on their performance, especially when it comes to the third-time through.

This was not the case for Arizona Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly, who went 7 innings pitched allowing just 1 earned run on 3 hits, all while striking out 9.

Just 7 pitchers this postseason have surpassed 7 innings while allowing one or less runs in their outing, but Kelly’s start marked the first of its kind in a World Series game since Gerrit Cole’s outing in 2019 for the Astros.

In fact, in the past 10 seasons, there have been just 9 performances that meet the 7 innings, 1 or less runs criteria, despite there being 21 instances of a pitcher going 6 innings, and 29 going 5 frames.

So, with the deflation of starter lengths in the postseason from 2013 to 2023, Gallen’s 7 IP of 1 ER would be the equivalent of him going 8.1 IP if compared to the same league average.

But Kelly’s dominance on the mound being an additional reason for him staying in the game, the bullpen usage the night prior was most likely the leading cause for the 35-year-old to continue to pitch.

After Zac Gallen was only able to get through 5 innings in Game One (a feat in its own right), Arizona used six bullpen arms in an 11-inning loss, a grouping of pitchers that included their five most-used options.

So, Kelly’s outing not only deserves appreciation for its’ uniqueness in today’s version of playoff baseball, but for the leverage it gave back to a team that dropped the series opener in heartbreaking fashion.

But all the additional praise coming Kelly’s way has been earned after his rollercoaster of a major league career, which has finally been brought into the National spotlight throughout this World Series run.

From being a 37th-round pick in 2007 to playing overseas, to finally breaking into the Majors at age 30 and becoming a workhorse for the Diamondbacks (averaging 34 starts and 201 IP per year over 5 seasons), Kelly has an argument alongside Ketel Marte and Tommy Pham for the most valuable members of this playoff run.