Does Jamsil Jesus, who appeared in Arizona, fill the gap in Kelly, who took the mound in 343 days and left the ML without losing a point?

Aug 07, 2025

Does Jamsil Jesus, who appeared in Arizona, fill the gap in Kelly, who took the mound in 343 days and left the ML without losing a point?
Arizona Casey Kelly pitches in the ninth inning against San Diego at Chase Field on the 7th (Korea time). Photo = MLB.TV Capture



A welcome face appeared at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona on the 7th (Korea time).

The Arizona Diamondbacks called in right-hander Casey Kelly from Triple-A.

Kelly took the mound in the top of the ninth inning. Arizona replaced the pitcher with Kelly in the ninth inning when left-hander Kyle Backhurs got a timely hit by David O'Hearn's solo home run to right-center and Jose Iglesias and allowed a 2-3 come-from-behind victory.




Kelly, who took the mound with one out and runners on the first base, gave up a heavy hit to Freddie Permin, the first batter, and was on the verge of first and third bases. He allowed a line drive hit to center field at 101.2 miles with his 7th pitch of 86.4 miles sinker in the middle of the full count.

Then, he committed a wild pitch at Luis Arraez's at-bat, and first baseman Permin advanced to second base and second and third bases with one out. However, Kelly induced Araez to ground out to third base to catch Iglesias, who was jumping home, and changed the situation to first and third bases with two outs. He then handled Ramon Lorino with a fly ball to right field and finished the inning.

⅔Inning three batters, he allowed one hit and no run. Of the 15 pitches, nine were strikes. Fastball speeds of eight pitches reached a maximum of 92.2 miles and an average of 91.4 miles. I threw three changeups and sliders each and one sinker. Both pitching form and ball control were no different from the KBO days.




It was the first time in 343 days that Kelly took the mound in the Major League since the game against the Oakland Athletics on August 29 last year.

Does Jamsil Jesus, who appeared in Arizona, fill the gap in Kelly, who took the mound in 343 days and left the ML without losing a point?
Kacey Kelly pitches for Luis Arraez. Photo = MLB.TV Capture
Does Jamsil Jesus, who appeared in Arizona, fill the gap in Kelly, who took the mound in 343 days and left the ML without losing a point?
In the top of the ninth inning, San Diego third baseman Jose Iglesias is tagged out by catcher James McCann while running home when Luis Arraez grounded out to third base. AP Yonhap News
Kelly, who left the LG Twins last summer and returned to the U.S. to sign with the Cincinnati Reds, threw two games in the majors and six games in Triple-A to finish the season. And he signed a minor league contract with Arizona earlier this year to start the season with Triple-A Reno Aces.

Kelly, who had hardly heard from him, was called up to the big league on the day. Arizona sent left-hander Kyle Nelson down to Reno to make room for Kelly, and transferred right-hander Kevin Ginkl to the 60-day injured list to register on the 40-man roster.




Kelly pitched in 18 games (14 starts) and threw 85 innings in Triple-A, recording a 2-5 record and a 5.82 ERA. He gave up 112 hits, 33 walks, and struck out 42. As shown in WHIP 1.71, it is difficult to have high expectations. The strikeout rate was 10.6%, the walk rate was 8.6%, and the ground ball rate was 45.8%.

The reason Arizona called up Kelly was because the bullpen ran out of power. He used up six bullpen pitchers to play a close game until the 11th inning against San Diego the previous day. Long reliever Anthony Desclafani joined the rotation by trading Merrill Kelly, who was previously acting as ace, to the Texas Rangers.

Kelly plays a swingman in the big leagues.

The speed of fastballs thrown by Triple-A this season was up to 93.0 miles and an average of 89.9 miles (144.7 kilometers). On this day, the average speed was similar to that of the LG Twins (146-147km).





This article was translated by Naver AI translator.