ARLINGTON, Texas — Merrill Kelly called his four-season detour to South Korea a “Lost in Translation” experience.
When he made his World Series debut, it was the Texas Rangers who were disoriented.
The 35-year-old right-hander pitched three-hit ball over seven innings, Ketel Marte extended his postseason hitting streak to a record 18 games and the Arizona Diamondbacks routed Texas 9-1 on Saturday night to even the World Series at one game apiece.
“At this point in my career, nothing is going to shock me,” Kelly said. “I think going over to Korea as a 26-year-old is way scarier than pitching in the big leagues or even in the World Series.”
Kelly struck out nine batters, walked none and allowed his only run on Mitch Garver’s leadoff homer in the fifth on a sinker at the bottom of the strike zone. His 22 called strikes were the most for a pitcher in the World Series since Stephen Strasburg in Game 6 for the 2019 Washington Nationals against the Houston Astros.
“I thought he might go nine innings today at one point,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said, contemplating what would have been the first complete game in the World Series since 2015. “But for that to happen, 89 pitches, you’ve got to jump him up probably another 35. I wasn’t going to let him throw 120 pitches.”
At 2 hours, 59 minutes, it was the quickest World Series game since 2017.
Gabriel Moreno hit a go-ahead homer in a two-run fourth against Jordan Montgomery, and Tommy Pham went 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Arizona batters broke it open late as the young Diamondbacks rebounded quickly from an agonizing defeat the night before.
Marte had a two-run single in a three-run eighth, snapping a tie for the longest postseason hitting streak with Hank Bauer, Derek Jeter and Manny Ramírez. Marte has a hit in every postseason game he has ever played.
A night after wasting a two-run, ninth-inning lead in a 6-5, 11-inning loss, the Diamondbacks outhit Texas 16-4 — the most hits for one team in a World Series game in nine years.
Emmanuel Rivera also had a two-run single, and rookie Corbin Carroll had a pair of RBI singles. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and 38-year-old Evan Longoria each singled in a run for Arizona, which got its first World Series road win after four losses dating to 2001.
The best-of-seven title matchup, just the third Fall Classic with a pair of wild-card teams, shifts to Arizona for Game 3 on Monday in the first World Series game at Phoenix since 2001.
Texas has won all eight of its road games this postseason, equaling an MLB record.
“We’d be naive to think that we’re going to run away with four in a row against a team that really fights hard like the same way we did,” Rangers first baseman Nathanial Lowe said.
AP photo by Julio Cortez / Arizona Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly allowed three hits in seven innings against the host Texas Rangers in Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday night in Arlington.Kelly was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2010 and had spent six seasons in the minors when he was told by pitcher Doug Mathis he had been spotted by a South Korean scout while pitching in Rochester, New York. Kelly’s agents at Apex Baseball arranged a contract, and Kelly spent 2015-18 with SK Wyverns in Incheon.
“I definitely had visions and images about me sitting on this podium,” Kelly said in the postgame interview room, recounting how he got up each morning, made coffee and checked MLB games. “It felt literally and figuratively miles away.”
In an on-field interview with MLB Network, he called it “Lost in Translation” type of stuff, referring to the 2003 Sofia Coppola movie of cultural displacement, saying “as far as how they view pitching, for four years I pretty much had to figure it out myself.”
“The coaches that I had, the translation factor, obviously, is a bit of a hindrance,” he said later in the interview room. “At the end of the day, I think what helped over there the most is almost being my own voice and my own pitching coach.”
Kelly made his MLB debut with Arizona in 2019 and is 48-43. He went 12-8 with a 3.29 ERA in 30 starts during the 2023 regular season and is 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA in four postseason starts.
He went to only one three-ball count Saturday.
“Just great command. He hit his spots all night, four pitches. He was on,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said.
Kelly’s grandmother June was at the game, and he looked forward to seeing her for the first time since a 2011 visit when he was driving to spring training with his wife.
Kelly’s brother Reed also was in the stands. Last year, Merrill took Reed to Game 3 of the World Series in Philadelphia. The Diamondbacks beat the Phillies in a National League Championship Series that went the distance — with Arizona celebrating on Philadelphia’s field.
“His birthday is Halloween,” Kelly said of Reed. “He texted me the other day saying that obviously this is probably the best birthday present I could give him.”
Pham, a trade deadline acquisition from the New York Mets, entered in a 3-for-29 skid that included a Game 1 homer. He singled in the second, hit opposite-field doubles to right in the fourth and sixth, and singled in the eighth. He also was picked off second base by Montgomery.
Pham was inspired by Kurt Reece’s self-help book “Good Is The Enemy Of Great.”
“One of my mentors, who the St. Louis Cardinals hired, he gave it to a group of us to read that were hand-chosen from the Cardinals to work with him,” Pham said. “Highly recommend it.”
Montgomery, coming off his second relief appearance in the majors, a win in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros last Monday, had a velocity dip of about 1.5 mph from his season average. Arizona batters failed to make contact on just two of the 37 pitches they swung at.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to grit,” he said.