Arizona Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly throws seven innings of three-hit ball as he stifles New York Mets 2-1.
Merrill Kelly put on quite a show at Chase Field on Saturday night, leading the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 2-1 victory over the New York Mets.
Kelly, now 2-3 on the season, worked seven innings, giving up just three hits and one earned run. Kelly walked three and struck out six in what might be looked upon as his best start so far in the 2026 MLB season. Kelly did this in front of the home crowd at Chase Field in Downtown Phoenix, too.
Ildemaro Vargas' bases-loaded, two-run single in the bottom of the third inning brought in Corbin Carroll and Geraldo Perdomo to put Arizona up 2-1.
The Mets scored their lone run in the top of the second inning on Brett Baty's sixth double this season.
Taylor Clarke and Paul Sewald followed Kelly on the mound for the Diamondbacks. Sewald earned his eighth save this season.
Mets starter Clay Holmes took the loss, falling to 2-3 this season. Holmes worked 5 2/3 innings, giving up just those two earned runs. He also allowed five hits while walking two and striking out six.
Austin Warren and MLB veteran reliever Craig Kimbrel followed Holmes and kept the Diamondbacks' offense in check.
While Arizona just scored two runs, it wasn't that the Diamondbacks didn't have plenty of opportunities to pad their lead. The team went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and ended up leaving eight runners on base. Because the pitching kept the Mets' offense quiet, those stranded runners didn't come back to haunt the Diamondbacks.
New York didn't have many runners on base Saturday night, going 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position. The Mets left four runners on base.
Diamondbacks phenom Ryan Waldschmidt, who singled in his first MLB at-bat on Friday night, got his first official start in the outfield for Arizona. He ended up going 0-for-3 against Mets pitching, striking out in all three of his at-bats. Waldschmidt split time in center field and left field.
Ketel Marte, Carroll, Perdomo, Adrian Del Castillo, Vargas, and Nolan Arenado were the Diamondbacks who had hits. As for the Mets, Marcus Semien, Baty, and Tyrone Taylor had base hits.
With the victory, the Diamondbacks go to 18-20 this season and are in third place in the National League West Division. For the Mets, they fall to 15-24 overall and are in fifth place in the National League East Division.
The Mets and Diamondbacks will close out their weekend series with a Sunday afternoon matchup at Chase Field. Then, Arizona heads out on the road for a three-game series against the Texas Rangers and travels to Denver, Colo., for a series against the Colorado Rockies.
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