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D-backs player Merrill Kelly leaves early rust behind and makes strong return


D-backs player Merrill Kelly leaves early rust behind and makes strong return

Arizona Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly returned to the mound on Sunday and allowed two runs against the Philadelphia Phillies at Chase Field, both in his first inning since April 15.

Kelly’s day started quickly as he faced the top of the Phillies’ line. He needed just three pitches to strike out Kyle Schwarber, one of the most dangerous leadoff hitters in baseball, but allowed two runs to the following batters on a bases-clearing double by Alec Bohm off the right outfield wall. From there, the starter was nearly unhittable in a five-inning return.

Kelly sat out in the second inning and got a groundout off the third batter with his second pitch after the first two innings had brought batter-friendly counts.

The next time he faced Kelly, Schwarber retired with a cutter up the middle with the score 2-1, and Trea Turner was grounded out before Lourdes Gurriel Jr. made an incredible catch off the left bullpen fence to retire Kelly’s eighth consecutive batter.

When Kelly next stepped onto the mound, he had a three-run lead after two-RBI hits from Adrian Del Castillo and Eugenio Suarez. The fifth run came on a wild pitch from Phillies starter Cristopher Sanchez, who had scored five earned runs on nine hits in three innings.

Kelly allowed a double by Nick Castellanos in the fourth inning and a walk by Schwarber in the fifth inning, but otherwise remained error-free for the rest of the day, throwing 85 pitches.

Follow the rest of the game on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app.

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