‘KBO export myth’ Kelly cries after 3 home runs in NLCS debut…4 runs in 5⅔ innings in loss
Arizona Diamondbacks’ Merrill Kelly, 35, took the loss in his first National League Championship Series (NLCS) start.
Kelly took the loss in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., on Monday (June 18), allowing four runs on five hits (three home runs) and three walks with six strikeouts in 5⅔ innings.
After getting leadoff hitter Kyle Schwarber to ground out to second base in the first inning, Kelly gave up a leadoff solo home run to Trey Turner on a 92.4-mile-per-hour (148.7 km/h) two-pitch fastball. He then gave up a walk to Bryce Harper, but got Alec Bomb to fly out to center field and thwarted Harper’s steal of second base to end the inning without further damage.
Kelly, who struck out three in the second, gave up a two-pitch 92.9 mph (149.5 km/h) fastball to Schwarber for his second solo home run of the game in the top of the third. He then walked Turner, but got Harper to fly out to left field to prevent another run.
After back-to-back strikeouts in the fourth and fifth innings, Kelly gave up a leadoff homer to Schwarber in the sixth inning on a four-pitch, 88.1 mph (141.8 km/h) changeup. Schwarber’s solo shot put Arizona down 0-3 in the game.
After giving up a leadoff double to Schwarber and a walk to Turner to load the bases with no outs, Kelly got Harper to ground out to short. 먹튀검증 After getting Alec Bomb to fly out to shortstop, Kelly was replaced by Joe Mantifly with two outs in the sixth inning with Arizona trailing 3-0. Mantifly hit a two-run double off J.T. Realmuto to score Kelly from second. Arizona fell to 0-10 and dropped to 2-2 in the series.
Kelly played for SK (now SSG) in the KBO from 2015 to 2018. He went 48-32 with a 3.86 ERA in 119 games (729⅔ innings) and won the Korean Series in 2018. After signing with Arizona based on his success in Korea, Kelly became the poster child for the KBO’s “reverse export myth” when he made his major league debut.
Kelly, who is pitching in his first postseason game since his major league debut, said, “I was on the mound in the Korean Series. In Korea, every batter has a chant, and in Seoul (Jamsil Stadium), 15,000 out of about 30,000 fans sang along after every at-bat. And they didn’t stop until the next batter came up,” he said, adding that he’s used to the pressure of fall baseball.
True to her word, Kelly was not deterred by the one-sided support in Philadelphia and bounced back, holding the Phillies to three runs through five innings. He gave up three home runs, but otherwise didn’t face any hits. However, the Arizona offense was unable to get anything going against Philadelphia starter Aaron Nola, and with no run support, Kelly was forced to leave the game after a disappointing outing.