ATLANTA -- Diamondbacks starting pitcher Merrill Kelly was in command on Wednesday.
The right-hander, who had a no-hitter through 5 2/3 innings, allowed one hit and one walk with eight strikeouts over seven scoreless innings to aid Arizona’s 2-1 win over the Braves at Truist Park.
Kelly faced just two over the minimum in his 11th consecutive start of five-plus innings. Kelly was one out away from taking the no-hitter into the seventh inning before Ronald Acuña Jr. broke it up with a two-out single.
“I’m just glad we got the win out of that,” Kelly said after the D-backs won their third straight following a stretch in which they lost nine of 10 games. “Obviously we’ve been scuffling and we’ve lost a lot of those types of games this year -- the one-run games [and] two-run games. I’m just glad the effort didn’t go to waste.”
It was the second time in his last four starts that Kelly allowed just one hit over seven scoreless innings after he did so against the Rockies on May 18.
In the two starts after Kelly’s one-hit effort in May, Kelly allowed a combined eight earned runs (four earned runs in each of the two starts).
“[The difference is] probably working edges,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “We have some guys that hit lines and when they’re throwing balls on all four lines of the box, they’re [going to] have a lot of success.”
Kelly added: “I would say the more I’m on the edge, the better the day is [going to] be for me. That’s kind of how I make my living [and] that’s kind of how I survive. I don’t have the stuff to be over the middle. I definitely don’t have the fastball to be over the middle. I make my money living on the edge and making guys swing at pitches that they might not want to swing at.”
Kelly said his arsenal was working in tandem with his command.
“I would say out of most games that I’ve thrown this year, as a collective whole for my arsenal today was the best [it’s been] all together,” Kelly said. “I was able to land some curveballs and throw some curveballs below the zone which a lot of the times I’ve had problems with. The changeup was good. The fastball location was good. The cutter location was good.”
Zac Gallen posted 3 1/3 perfect innings on Tuesday and Kelly followed with four perfect frames of his own Wednesday as he retired the first 12 batters he faced in order. The last pair of D-backs to post at least 3 1/3 perfect innings in consecutive games was the combination of Curt Schilling (five perfect innings) and Miguel Batista (3 2/3) from May 28-29, 2002, against the Giants.
“I’m just trying to get off on the right foot and get some momentum for the rest of the game,” Kelly said. “Obviously with Corbin [Burnes] going down, everybody has to step up. Even without Corbin being down we still need to [step up]. I’m just trying to capture that momentum and keep the train moving.”
Kelly earned his 59th career win Wednesday, surpassing Schilling for third in franchise history.
Kelly didn’t have a lot of wiggle room against Braves starting pitcher Chris Sale, who dueled Arizona’s right-hander with one run on three hits with 10 strikeouts over six innings in the loss.
“That’s when the saying, ‘Pressure is a privilege,’ comes in, I guess,” Kelly said. “Being against that guy -- Cy Young winner, he’s been in the league forever and nasty for a long time -- just to be able to go up against him is fun. In a game like that, we’re going back and forth. It’s kind of what we like to do as pitchers.”
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was responsible for the lone run against Sale with a two-out RBI single in the top of the third.
Justin Martinez earned the five-out save despite walking four batters, including a bases-loaded walk to Drake Baldwin with two outs in the ninth inning before striking out Michael Harris II to end it.
“That’s all that matters at the end of the day is if you get it done,” Kelly said. “It’s a win-or-loss league. The line that [Martinez] put up is whatever as long as he has ‘save’ next to his name and a ‘W’ next to the D-backs’ name. That’s all that really matters.”