Kelly (leg) exited Sunday's contest against the Cubs in the bottom of the sixth inning due to right leg cramping.
Kelly had tossed 5.2 innings of one-run ball, allowing two hits and a walk while striking out five batters before being forced to leave the game. The right-hander retired the final 16 batters he faced in the contest and his status moving forward is likely day-to-day. Kelly is projected to make his next start Saturday against Atlanta and it's unclear if he's in danger of missing that outing.
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Diamondbacks' Merrill Kelly: Fans nine in win
Rotowire
Kelly (3-1) allowed a run on three hits and a walk over six innings Tuesday, striking out nine and earning a win over the Marlins.
Kelly cruised to an easy win while his offense posted a double-digit scoring performance. The lone run against him was an RBI groundout from Liam Hicks in the second inning. Kelly forced a season-high 13 whiffs after generating just 19 total in his first three starts. He still owns an unsightly 5.57 ERA, but that was mostly due to his nine-run blow-up start against the Yankees on April 3. Kelly is currently projected for a road matchup against the Cubs this weekend.
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Diamondbacks' Merrill Kelly: Rallies for second win
Rotowire
Kelly (2-1) picked up the win in Tuesday's 4-3 victory over the Orioles, allowing three runs (two earned) on three hits and two walks over six-plus innings. He struck out four.
The veteran right-hander was tagged for a pair of runs in the first inning, an ominous sign after Kelly got ambushed by the Yankees his last time out, but he steadied the ship after that and produced his first quality start of the season on 89 pitches (61 strikes). Kelly's 7.20 ERA still shows the scars of that trip to the Bronx, and his 7:9 K:BB in 15 innings hasn't been fantasy-friendly, but he may be trending in the right direction. He's scheduled to make his next start on the road early next week in Miami.
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Diamondbacks' Merrill Kelly: Demolished by Yankees in loss
Rotowire
Kelly (1-1) took the loss after allowing nine runs on nine hits and three walks in 3.2 innings Thursday against the Yankees. He struck out two.
Thursday's showing was ugly from the get-go for Kelly, who served up a three-run home run to Aaron Judge in the first inning before recording a single out. Trent Grisham added an RBI double in the opening frame and also belted a two-run shot in the third inning, with Kelly's night finally coming to a merciful end after a Jazz Chisholm two-run homer in the fourth. Kelly will look to put this disastrous performance in the rear-view mirror in his next scheduled start, which lines up for early next week at home against the Orioles.
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Diamondbacks' Merrill Kelly: Picks up win despite shaky control
Rotowire
Kelly (1-0) recorded the win in Friday's 8-1 rout of the Cubs, allowing one run on three hits and four walks over 5.1 innings. He struck out one.
It was far from a dominant outing for the 36-year-old righty to kick off the season, but Kelly minimized the damage from his free passes and got more than enough offensive support. He left the mound after 85 pitches (51 strikes). Kelly will likely need to be sharper in his next trip to the mound, which is scheduled to come on the road next week against the Yankees.
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Diamondbacks' Merrill Kelly: Wraps up Cactus League
Rotowire
Kelly allowed three runs on five hits and two walks while striking out six over five innings in Saturday's spring start against the Giants.
The Giants tagged Kelly for three consecutive home runs in the fourth inning of his final Cactus League start, but the right-hander told Manny Randhawa of MLB.com that this was the best he's felt all camp. The Diamondbacks' rotation order hasn't been set beyond Opening Day starter Zac Gallen, but Kelly is considered to be part of the top three, which also includes Corbin Burnes. That means he'll likely make his next start Thursday or Friday against the Cubs.
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Diamondbacks' Merrill Kelly: Works on slider
Rotowire
Kelly allowed three runs on six hits while striking out four over 2.2 innings in Monday's spring start against the Angels.
Kelly was tagged for all three runs in the second inning of his fourth Cactus League start. It was an efficient outing, as Kelly required 66 pitches to get those eight outs. He hinted to Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports that the high pitch count was partially due to a pitcher using spring contests to test out pitches he might not normally throw in certain situations during the regular season. Kelly worked on his slider Monday, throwing it 24 percent of the time. "I think that was one of the things I walked away with today, with how good it's been in spring," Kelly said. It's a pitch the right-hander hasn't used much during his career and only started introducing the last few seasons.
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Diamondbacks' Merrill Kelly: Scoreless spring outing
Rotowire
Kelly allowed five hits while striking out one over 3.1 scoreless innings in Tuesday's spring start against the Royals.
Kelly threw 48 pitches in his third Cactus League start, the same number of pitches he threw the last time out, March 7, against the Mariners. He navigated first-inning trouble with the help of his defense; a baserunner was caught attempting to steal and a second one was picked off by Kelly, the third time he's picked off a runner this spring. After three spring outings, Kelly has a 2.35 ERA over 7.2 innings.
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Diamondbacks' Merrill Kelly: Gets in work Thursday
Rotowire
Kelly allowed two runs on four hits and two walks over 2.1 innings while striking out three in Thursday's split-squad start against the Mariners.
Kelly threw 48 pitches (30 strikes) in his second Cactus League outing. The right-hander allowed multiple baserunners in each of his first two innings and experienced a slight drop in velocity relative to his first spring outing, but his rotation spot isn't in jeopardy and Kelly's focus at this stage of the spring is on getting stretched out.
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Diamondbacks' Merrill Kelly: Makes spring debut
Rotowire
Kelly allowed one hit and one walk while striking out two over two innings in Friday's spring start against the Royals.
This was Kelly's first appearance in Cactus League action, and the 36-year-old right-hander showed extra juice on his fastball. He averaged 92 mph on his two- and four-seamers in 2024 but threw a number of fastballs at 94-plus Friday. The uptick in velo is an encouraging sign for Kelly, who missed a large part of 2024 due to a shoulder injury.
Diamondbacks' Merrill Kelly: D-backs pick up option
Rotowire
The Diamondbacks exercised Kelly's $7 million club option for 2025 on Saturday, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports.
After missing a four-month chunk of the season due to a shoulder injury, Kelly finished 2024 with a 4.03 ERA and 1.17 WHIP across 73.2 innings over 13 starts. Hopeful for a bounce-back campaign in 2025, the D-backs will keep the 36-year-old righty around to bolster a pitching staff that ranked 27th in the majors with a 4.62 ERA.
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Diamondbacks' Merrill Kelly: Takes first loss
Rotowire
Kelly (5-1) allowed five runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out eight over 5.2 innings Friday, taking the loss versus the Padres.
Kelly left his last start due to a right calf cramp, but it wasn't a lasting issue for the right-hander. He was shaky in the first inning Friday, allowing four of the five runs and four of the eight hits on his line as the Padres jumped ono him early. He also gave up an RBI triple to Luis Arraez in the fourth. Kelly wraps up an injury-plagued regular season with a 4.03 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and 63:19 K:BB over 73.2 innings across 13 starts, missing nearly four months with a shoulder injury.
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