Merrill Kelly gave the Arizona Diamondbacks exactly what they needed Thursday night: seven innings, one run and a 3-1 win over the San Diego Padres that left the four-game set in a split. He worked around three hits and three walks, struck out six and kept the game in hand long enough for Arizona to finish the job.
Kelly’s only damage came on Manny Machado’s homer in the second inning, but he answered with a fourth-inning escape that mattered just as much. With runners on first and second and one out, he induced a double play and ended San Diego’s best chance to break through again. That kind of inning has been the difference for Arizona when the rest of the offense has not always been enough to create separation.
Nolan Arenado supplied the first lift with a homer for the Diamondbacks, and Geraldo Perdomo added an RBI single. Arizona also scored on a wild pitch, a small but useful run that widened the margin before the late innings. Kevin Ginkel and Paul Sewald then shut the door, each retiring all three batters he faced in the eighth and ninth.
The win mattered because it came in a stretch where the Diamondbacks have been hovering around.500, the kind of season that keeps a team looking for any sign that it can turn a corner. Kelly’s outing was his second straight encouraging start, which is enough to notice and not enough to declare a change in direction. The series in San Diego still felt like more of the same: a useful performance here, a missed opportunity there, and a team trying to force momentum rather than simply wait for it.
The Diamondbacks also used Thursday to change their pitching mix. Jose Cabrera was optioned to Triple-A Reno after giving up four runs in 4 1/3 innings Wednesday night and carrying a 5.60 ERA in four starts since moving into the rotation last month, while Philip Abner was recalled. Arizona will not need a fifth starter again until July 21, and Michael Soroka is on the injured list with a glute injury, so the next turn still leaves a question behind the front of the rotation.
For now, Kelly’s work offered something cleaner than a promise. It gave Arizona a split in San Diego and a win it could actually build around as it heads to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.
