Diamondbacks' Merrill Kelly: Dominates in victory

Kelly (1-0) struck out eight and allowed one run on three hits and no walks over 6.2 innings Friday in the Diamondbacks' 7-3 win over the Rockies.

After coughing up three hits in the first two frames, including a solo shot by Elias Diaz, Kelly settled in to retire 15 straight Rockies. The right-hander forced 12 swinging strikes on 79 total pitches, with four whiffs each via the fastball and slider. The slider was a main focus during the offseason, and the pitcher threw it 14 times -- the second-most sliders he's thrown in a single game. "Definitely the biggest takeaway, I think, for me was the slider today," Kelly told Steve Gilbert of MLB.com. "The slider definitely jumped out as it seems like it's shown itself as a useful pitch." Kelly has been a consistent force for Arizona recently, registering a 3.33 ERA across 378 innings from 2022-2023, and he's off to an impressive beginning to the 2024 campaign. He's currently projected to take the mound at home against the Yankees next week.