Kelly's Rangers debut -- 'brain cramps' and all -- an overall success

SEATTLE -- T-Mobile Park is the Rangers’ House of Horrors.

Coming into this weekend’s four-game set, the Rangers were 1-9 at the Mariners’ home stadium since the start of 2024. Texas was just 8-35 (.186) over its last 43 games at this venue (since the start of 2020), the lowest win percentage for any team at a single ballpark in that span (minimum of 20 games).

“I said today, ‘Oh my goodness, what is going on here [in Seattle]?’” manager Bruce Bochy joked. “The guys found a way. They showed a lot of internal fortitude through some of the hits they've taken, and they did that today.”

Whatever spell this ballpark has had on the Rangers has been never-ending, so much so that it’s even affected the newest member of the club, even as Texas finished off a back-and-forth affair to win its first game in Seattle this season, 6-4, in 11 innings.

The Rangers acquired Merrill Kelly from the Diamondbacks for a trio of pitching prospects at Thursday’s Trade Deadline. The right-hander had a 3.22 ERA through 22 starts with Arizona this season, with 121 strikeouts, 38 walks and a 1.06 WHIP over 128 2/3 innings.

Kelly arrived at T-Mobile Park just before game time on Friday night and left before the Mariners walked it off in the 10th in preparation for his Rangers debut on Saturday afternoon. He cruised through the first five innings, allowing just one infield hit, before Texas’ curse of T-Mobile Park came upon him.

“He was really good,” Bochy said. “He was pitching very efficiently. The last inning, he made some mistakes there, I think he'll tell you that. But he had really good command, good stuff. I mean, just a solid job by him.”

In the bottom of the sixth, with Texas up 2-0, Kelly allowed a J.P. Crawford double and a Cole Young single to put runners at the corners with one out. Then, both runners advanced on a disengagement violation by Kelly, allowing the first run to score.

Just seconds after he allowed the tying run to score on a Julio Rodríguez double, Kelly recorded a throwing error on a groundout that would have ended the inning. He threw to third, trying to catch the lead runner, instead of first to end the frame.

That error ended Kelly's afternoon with two outs in the sixth inning. Shawn Armstrong would get out of the jam by striking out Eugenio Suárez, keeping Kelly's earned-run count at two for his debut.

Bochy attributed Kelly’s struggles in the sixth to “brain cramps,” which the right-hander laughed at before agreeing.

“That's a good way to put it,” Kelly said. “I would call it just a brain fart, a brain camp, whatever you want to call it. I just think the game sped up on me a little bit. I'm not really sure why. I stepped off there to hear the pitch, and I didn't really realize that was [the] second disengagement. That was the first brain cramp. And then I literally just forgot how many outs there were. So that was the second brain cramp.”

Kelly credited catcher Kyle Higashioka -- who caught his bullpen sessions during the 2023 World Baseball Classic -- for his game-calling, which allowed him to be so efficient throughout the first five innings.

And despite the struggles at the end, it was a solid debut for the newest Ranger, who joined a rotation that has an MLB-best 3.19 ERA.

Kelly had spent his entire big league career with the Diamondbacks and said he thought he would end his career there as well. Once Arizona didn’t get off to a great start this season, the writing was on the wall.

“It's just the nature of the beast,” Kelly said. “I'm obviously happy to be here. I'm happy to be with a team who's in a good spot and making a playoff push and playing competitive baseball for the rest of the year. … It means a lot. So I'm honored to be a person who's wanted, right?

"It's always good to go to a team who wants you there, and just to be in the rotation. It is definitely an honor to be with names like Jacob deGrom and Nate Eovaldi and all those guys. It's pretty fun, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the year.”