Kelly stymies Giants, closes in on 'pretty big milestone'

PHOENIX -- Numbers aren't usually important to Merrill Kelly. The D-backs right-hander prefers to focus on whether he gave his team a chance to win on a given night.

But reaching the 200-innings mark? That's a different story. That's something Kelly has been chasing since he signed with the D-backs prior to the 2019 season after four years pitching in Korea.

The reason it's so important is not the number itself, but what it represents -- taking the ball every fifth day and pitching deep into games.

Kelly logged another seven innings in a 5-2 win over the Giants on Saturday at Chase Field to bring his innings total to 189 2/3, within striking distance of reaching his goal.

"You guys have heard me talk for four years now on what I pride myself on as far as being a starting pitcher, and that's definitely eating as many innings as I can," Kelly said. "So I feel like that 200 mark is a big one for starting pitching, especially nowadays. I feel like a lot of guys don't hit it like they used to. It kind of used to be somewhat of a normal thing, and I feel like in this day and age with the way bullpens are and the way pitch counts and starting pitchers are handled, not as many guys get to it. So I feel like, for me, it's a pretty big milestone."

D-backs manager Torey Lovullo is well aware of that mark’s importance to Kelly.

When the D-backs called up Ryne Nelson a few weeks ago, they went to somewhat of a six-man rotation. It was then that Lovullo had a conversation with Kelly to see just how badly he wanted to try for 200 innings.

Kelly answered that he wanted it badly with one caveat.

"I wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to affect anybody else's spot," Kelly said. "I didn't want people pitching on five days and then having to pitch on seven and then having to flip flop just to try and get me that opportunity. I think there might be a little bit of that going into this last week, but most of the people that are going to be affected are the young guys, and I think they understand the reality of why that is."

So as it stands now, Lovullo plans on giving Kelly two more starts to pick up the 10 1/3 innings he needs, although Lovullo said he reserves the right to change his mind if circumstances dictate it.

Lovullo would like to see all the hard work that Kelly put in during the offseason be rewarded by getting to 200 innings, which the manager also sees as something special.

"It is quite an accomplishment," Lovullo said. "It talks to me about the prep, the ability to go out there and pitch deep into games, you don't have a lot of clunkers, rest, recovery, routine, process. It takes a lot of discipline to do that today."

The D-backs have not had a pitcher throw 200 innings since Patrick Corbin and Zack Greinke did so in 2018.

"We guard our guys here," Lovullo said. "We get to that 100-pitch mark and we start to look at them a little bit sideways and we're going to pull you out of the game. So he's done it without really elevating a pitch count. He's been very efficient."