It’s impossible to overstate just how badly Arizona needed Kelly to shove in Game 2.
As days go, Friday was a short one for Zac Gallen, who only lasted five innings, and a long one for the bullpen, which handled 5.1 innings. The pen needed a rest in Game 2, and the longer, the better.
Enter Kelly. He became the first pitcher to log at least seven one-run innings in a World Series game since Gerrit Cole in 2019, and he made it look easy. He tossed first-pitch strikes to 17 of the 24 batters he faced en route to whiffing nine, walking none and allowing only three hits on 89 pitches.
What’s more, Jordan Montgomery did his best to ramp up the pressure on Kelly through the first two-thirds of Game 2. Though the wheels ultimately fell off for him and the Rangers in the seventh, prior to that the lefty had allowed just two runs over six innings.
That Kelly never blinked shouldn’t come as a surprise at this point. Though the 35-year-old was in Gallen’s shadow at the start of the playoffs, he’s been undoubtedly the more ace-like of the two in pitching to a 2.25 ERA in his four starts.
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