One win down, 3 more to go in the NLCS. The Phillies jumped on the Diamondbacks in game 1, hanging 5 runs, including 3 solo HRs, on the Ace Zac Gallen. Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and Nick Castellanos all hit homers off of Zac fallen in the first two innings. They get right back to it tonight though, with Aaron Nola set up to duel Merrill Kelly.
Kelly entered the playoffs with a 3.29 ERA. And he has continued to pitch well in the playoffs. He never faced the Brewers after the Dbacks beat them in just 2 games. But he pitched 6.1 shutout innings against the Dodgers, on the way to a 11-2 game 1 win. He has been resting for 8 days in between starts. And he has been as good as it gets this whole season when he gets that type of rest. In 5 starts with at least 6 days of rest, he had a 1.84 ERA.
Merrill Kelly has been in the league since 2019, but has only faced the Phillies 3 times. And two of those times came in his rookie season. His first outing, in Philly, he shut the Phillies out across 7.2 innings. The next time he gave up 3 runs over 6 innings. So when he faced them in Arizona this season, it was the first time he pitched against the Phillies in 4 seasons. In it, he gave up 3 runs in 6 innings, including a solo shot by JT Realmuto.
So his sample size against the Phillies is small. In fact, only one guy on the team has more than 10 at bats against Merrill Kelly. Trea Turner faced him a lot in his 1.5 seasons with the Dodgers and hit him pretty well. But despite the small sample sizes, how have the Phillies hit against the tough righty?
Let’s look at how every Phillies hitter has performed against Merrill Kelly in the past:
Kyle Schwarber
(Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
.143/.250/.143/.393
1 for 7, 0 HRs, 0 2Bs, 0 3Bs, 0 RBIs, 1 BB, 4 Ks
Trea Turner
(Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
.429/.500/.571/.1.071
9 for 21, 0 HRs, 3 2Bs, 0 3B, 6 RBIs, 3 BBs, 3 Ks
Bryce Harper
(Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
.200/.333/.200/.533
1 for 5, 0 HRs, 0 2Bs, 0 3Bs, 0 RBIs, 1 BB, 0 Ks
Alec Bohm
(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Has Not Faced Merrill Kelly
Bryson Stott
(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
.333/.333/1.000/1.333
1 for 3, 0 HRs, 0 2Bs, 1 3B, 0 RBIS, 0 BB, 0 Ks
J.T. Realmuto
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
.333/.333/.778/1.111
3 for 9, 1 HR, 1 2B, 0 3B, 3 RBIs, 0 BBs, 1 K
Nick Castellanos
(Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
.000/.000/.000/.000
0 for 3, 0 HRs, 0 2Bs, 0 3Bs, 0 RBIs, 0 BBs, 2 Ks
Brandon Marsh
(Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
.000/.000/.000/.000
0 for 2, 0 HRs, 0 2Bs, 0 3Bs, 0 RBIs, 0 BBs, 1 K
Johan Rojas
(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Has Not Faced Merrill Kelly
Totals
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
.288/.354/.441/.795
17 for 59, 1 HR, 4 2Bs, 1 3B, 10 RBIs, 6 BBs, 14 Ks
