With Arizona back on track, can ‘KBO reverse-export success story’ Kelly reach WS stage?
The Arizona Diamondbacks have come from behind to even the series. Will right-hander Merrill Kelly, who struggled in Game 2, get a chance to bounce back?
Arizona defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 6-5 in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series of the 2023 Major League Baseball postseason at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, on April 21.
Following a 3-5 loss in Game 1 on April 17, when starter Zach Galen was tagged for five runs in five innings, and an 0-10 loss in Game 2 on April 18, when Kelly struggled with four runs in 5⅔ innings, Arizona took Game 3 on April 20 with a 2-1 win and then took Game 4 to even the series at 2-2.
Arizona will return home to Chase Field for Game 5 on Nov. 22. The championship series is best-of-seven. The Dodgers need to take the series lead at home and prepare for the road trip. Game 6 will be played on April 24 at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies’ home ballpark in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. If the series goes to a seventh game, it will still be in Philadelphia.
Galen will start Game 5 for Arizona. Zack Wheeler will start for Philadelphia. Both starters will take the mound for the second time in five days. In Game 1, Galen was tagged for five runs, while Wheeler earned the win with six innings of two-run ball. Galen will look to bounce back from his Game 1 performance at home.
In Game 6, it’s back to Kelly, who started Game 2. Philadelphia’s Game 2 starter was Aaron Nola. Nola pitched six shutout innings in a 10-0 win. Will Kelly be able to bounce back?
This is Kelly’s first major league fall season. He joined the KBO in 2015 after playing in the minor leagues from 2010-14. He played for SK, the predecessor of the SSG Landers.
In his first year in the KBO, he led the starting lineup with 11 wins and 10 losses. He fell short of 10 wins the following year with a 9-8 record, but was re-signed and went 16-7 in 2017, serving as the “ace” in place of Kim Kwang-hyun, who was sidelined for the season with Tommy John surgery.
In 2018, his fourth year in the KBO, Kelly went 12-7 with a 4.09 ERA in the regular season and helped the team win the Korean Series. That was it. After four seasons in the KBO, where he compiled a 48-32 record with a 3.86 ERA in 119 appearances, Kelly made his big league debut in 2019.
In an Arizona uniform, Kelly started all 32 games in his first year in the majors, going 13-14 with a 4.42 ERA. The following year, 카지노사이트킴 in a shortened season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he appeared in just five games, going 3-2 with a 2.59 ERA.
Kelly has been a steady presence in Arizona’s starting rotation. After going 13-8 with a 3.37 ERA last year, Kelly has been a key part of Arizona’s starting rotation this year, leading the team into the fall. He started Game 1 of the division series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Aug. 8 and tossed 6 1/3 scoreless innings of relief in the team’s 11-2 victory.
In the regular season, he shut down an offense that ranked second on the team in home runs (249), seventh in batting average (.257), second in on-base percentage (.455) and second in OPS (.795). He fell short to the Phillies in the Championship Series, but will be looking to bounce back next time out and reach the World Series for the first time.
