Merrill Kelly Shuts Down Mets, Diamondbacks Escape With 2-1 Win

Merrill Kelly was the story from the first pitch. The right-hander worked seven innings against the Mets on Saturday, allowing just one run on three hits while walking three and striking out six — the kind of quiet, efficient outing that doesn't announce itself with radar gun readings but wins ballgames anyway. Arizona held on for a 2-1 final at Chase Field, with Paul Sewald closing it out and Clay Holmes absorbing the loss in a low-event game that was decided almost entirely by the men on the mound.

The margin came down to a single swing from an unlikely source. Ildemaro Vargas collected both of Arizona's RBI on one hit, a two-run single that gave the Diamondbacks all the offense they'd need. That's it — two runs, one hit, one moment. New York answered with a Brett Baty RBI that made it a one-run game and briefly threatened to flip the script, but the Mets couldn't manufacture anything else against Kelly, who kept hitters off-balance all night with a three-hit, six-strikeout line that should have earned him a no-decision in a higher-scoring game. It didn't. Holmes gave up those two earned runs over 5.2 innings, also punching out six, but left with the deficit and the loss.

Tyrone Taylor reached base for New York and Adrian Del Castillo contributed a hit for Arizona, but this was emphatically a pitchers' game. The Mets had their chances — three walks issued by Kelly kept innings alive — but couldn't convert. Sewald inherited a clean ninth and finished it without drama, notching the save and sealing a result that felt inevitable from about the fourth inning on.

For anyone tracking the total, this was a gift to under bettors and a reminder that Chase Field in May isn't always the launching pad it's billed as. A three-run final sat well beneath standard MLB game totals, which typically open in the 8.0–8.5 range. Kelly's strikeout total of six was serviceable against posted lines but hardly the blowout number; the real story was his hit suppression — three hits over seven innings is the kind of performance that crushes any total-hits market. Holmes's six K's in 5.2 innings offered some value on the strikeout side, but the run support never arrived to give him a realistic shot at a win prop. Low-leverage, low-scoring, exactly the kind of game where the under cashed early and stayed comfortable all night.