Joc Pederson, Jose Herrera, and Ketel Marte each hit home runs as the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 5-0 on Saturday night, keeping their spot in the NL wild-card race.
Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly (5-0) struck out six batters while allowing just two hits in five innings. He threw 72 pitches, with 48 being strikes, before leaving the game due to a cramp in his right calf.
“I made the decision to take him out of the game,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “He was trying to push to stay in it but I told him he had done his job and we had plenty of coverage in the bullpen. I don’t want to risk this. If we’re going where we want to go, he’s got a lot more baseball to play.”
With this win, Arizona (87-68) achieved its fourth straight victory and remained one game ahead of the New York Mets for the second NL wild card spot.
“We’re a good team and we’re peaking at the right time,” Lovullo said.
Pederson hit his 23rd home run, a two-run shot off Aaron Civale (7-9), giving Kelly a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
In the fifth inning, Herrera hit a one-out drive to right field for his first career home run in his 129th major league game. He almost hit another home run in the sixth, sending a 3-2 curveball from Trevor Megill 356 feet to the warning track in right.
“It was a special moment,” Herrera said. “I knew it had a pretty good chance. I hit it well.”
That was more than enough support for Kelly, who struck out five of the last six batters he faced, including three in a row during the fifth inning.
This was Kelly’s eighth start since returning on August 11 after being out for nearly four months due to a right shoulder strain.
“That was probably the best I felt since I’ve been back,” Kelly said. “Location-wise, action-wise, plan; I felt really good going into today and my body felt really good.”
Marte added two insurance runs with a two-run homer in the ninth, marking his 34th home run against Joe Ross.
