Despite Merrill Kelly only conceding one earned run, the Arizona Diamondbacks couldn’t muster anything offensively in a 2-0 loss at the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday.
Rain delayed first pitch by about 40 minutes, and the Arizona bats never woke up with only four hits and not a single one for extra bases.
The D-backs only strung together multiple hits in one inning — Eugenio Suarez and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. singled to left in the sixth — but two baserunners didn’t yield anything on the scoreboard.
Merrill Kelly’s night
In what could conceivably be Kelly’s final start for Arizona this season — with his expiring contract on the trade deadline chopping block — he allowed six hits and one earned run in 6.2 innings. He had three strikeouts on 99 pitches (68 strikes).
The night was Kelly’s 12th quality start in 22 outings and his 14th with at least six innings pitched.
Kelly retired eight straight Pittsburgh batters before a walk (his first and only), single and fielder’s choice ended his night with two outs in the seventh. With runners at the corners, lefty reliever Andrew Saalfrank struck out Pirates first baseman Spencer Horwitz to cap the inning and preserve a 2-0 deficit.
Kelly was the beneficiary of a pair of defensive gems: Perdomo stabbed a grounder up the middle to set up a 6-4-3 double play in the third and Carroll swiped a fly ball off the turf in the fourth.
As another bullet dodged, Pirates left outfielder Tommy Pham likely would have scored in the fourth if not for Joey Bart’s ball down the right-field line being a ground rule double.
The unearned run came at the same moment as the earned, as Oneil Cruz’s home run in the second frame was worth two due to a fielding error by Suarez, allowing Pham to be safe at first base.
Almost at the game’s exact midpoint in the fifth inning, D-backs outfielder Randal Grichuk was dealt to the Kansas City Royals for right-handed reliever Andrew Hoffmann.
Diamondbacks’ next game
Zac Gallen, another subject of noisy MLB trade deadline rumors, will start for the D-backs on Sunday as Arizona goes for the series win. He will square off with Pirates righty Paul Skenes (5-8, 1.91 ERA), who leads MLB in ERA.
Gallen faced Skenes back on May 28, when Skenes and the Pirates dominated the D-backs 10-1 at Chase Field.
Arizona can also salvage the season series with the Pirates, trailing 3-2.
Listen to the Diamondbacks-Pirates series finale at 10:35 a.m. on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app.
