When the year began, right-hander Merrill Kelly was a significant question mark in a rotation filled with them. At the season’s midway point, he has been the only starter the Diamondbacks have been able to count on every fifth day.
Kelly turned in another workmanlike performance on Thursday night, giving the Diamondbacks seven solid innings in a 5-3 win over the San Francisco Giants at Chase Field.
It was the third consecutive outing in which Kelly stopped a skid: On June 21, he beat the Milwaukee Brewers to end a 17-game losing streak. Five days later, he beat the Padres in San Diego to end a record 24-game road losing streak.