, who grew up in Arizona, joined the Diamondbacks on a two-year contract in December after spending four seasons with the SK Wyverns in Korea. That followed five seasons in the Tampa Bay organization. He became the first player with no big league experience to play in Korea and return directly to the majors.Kelly held San Diego to three runs and five hits while striking out three and walking two.He started strong thanks to his defense. Left fielder David Peralta made a diving catch of a liner by leadoff batter Ian Kinsler, and center fielder Ketel Marte made a sliding catch of Eric Hosmer's liner.San Diego didn't get a hit until Franchy Cordero, who entered in a double switch in the third inning, singled to right in the bottom of the inning. Cordero had an infield single in the fifth that hit off Kelly, who stayed in the game.Kelly faltered in his final inning, allowing Hosmer's double and Manny Machado's single before Franmil Reyes hit a sacrifice fly. With two outs, Tatis, the team's prized prospect and the son of the former big leaguer, drove the first pitch he saw for his first homer.Right-hander Jon Duplantier, 24, made his big league debut when he took over for the Diamondbacks opening the seventh.Matt Strahm (0-1) had a rough season debut for the Padres, allowing five runs and eight hits while walking two in just 2 2/3 innings. The left-hander is in the rotation this year after making five starts as an opener last year and 41 appearances overall as he was eased back from surgery on his torn left patellar tendon the previous season while with Kansas City.Jones, who played at San Diego's Morse High, homered to left on Strahm's third pitch, his third, and David Peralta added an RBI double. Eduardo Escobar hit an RBI single in the second and the Diamondbacks chased Strahm in the third on Nick Ahmed's sac fly and Alex Avila's run-scoring single.The Diamondbacks piled on with four runs in the fifth against Robbie Erlin, who allowed four hits before getting an out.GRAND CANYON BALLERSKelly is the fifth Diamondbacks player to play high school and college ball in Arizona, joining Jake Barrett, Tuffy Gosewisch, Cody Ransom and Ed Vosberg. Kelly grew up in Scottsdale and attended Desert Mountain High, Yavapai College and Arizona State.UP NEXTDiamondbacks: RHP Zack Greinke (0-1, 17.18) is scheduled to start Tuesday night. He's looking to bounce back from opening day, when he allowed seven earned runs in 3 2/3 innings in a 12-5 loss at the Los Angeles Dodgers.Padres: LHP Eric Lauer (1-0, 0.00) threw six shutout innings in an opening day victory against San Francisco.---More baseball: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Padres aim to continue success against Diamondbacks Two of the San Diego Padres' biggest woes -- and there have been many -- in recent seasons are terrible starts followed by horrible records inside the National League West.Last season, for example, the Padres were 28-48 against their four division rivals. And over the three previous seasons, the Padres were a combined 30-51 in the first month of the season after suffering three straight Opening Day losses.This season, however, the Padres scored a 2-0 win on Opening Day en route to taking three of four games from the San Francisco Giants? It marks the first time since 2011 that the Padres have won the opening series of a season.Now, can they have success against the rest of the division?It won't take long to get an answer. The Arizona Diamondbacks, who were 12-7 against the Padres last season, come to Petco Park for three games starting Monday night.And the opener features a most interesting matchup.Left-handed reliever/spot starter-turned-starter Matt Strahm will start for the Padres against Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly, who spent the past four seasons pitching for the SK Wyverns in Korea. Kelly helped the Wyverns win the 2018 Korean Series title with a 12-7 record and a 4.09 earned run average in 28 starts in the KBO League.A native of the Phoenix area and a product of Arizona State, Kelly was Tampa Bay's eighth-round pick in the 2010 draft and spent five seasons in the Rays' organization before signing with SK in Korea. He won 16 games in 2017 before leading the Wyverns to the championship last season.Overall, Kelly had a 48-32 record over four seasons in Korea with a 3.88 ERA in 119 games (118 starts).While in Korea, Kelly moved to a cutter-changeup mix."It is exciting to be back in the states," the 6-foot-4, 30-year-old Kelly said earlier this spring as he battled to win the fifth spot in the Arizona rotation. "The Diamondbacks took the choice out of the equation after I decided I wanted to return and pitch in America. They were definitely the team with the most interest." Strahm, 27, is the dean and senior member of the Padres' rotation.Acquired by the Padres from Kansas City in a 2017 trade while rehabbing from knee surgery, Strahm had a 2.05 ERA in 41 appearances in 2018. Five of those outings were starts, with several of those starts being a short-burst outing as a closer.In 61 1/3 innings last season, Strahm allowed 16 runs (14 earned) on 39 hits and 21 walks with 69 strikeouts. He had a 0.98 WHIP and a .178 opponents' batting average.Strahm has made six career appearances against Arizona, holding the Diamondbacks to three runs on six hits and three walks with 11 strikeouts in 9 1/3 innings. He has a 2.89 ERA with a 0.96 WHIP and a .176 opponents' batting average against the Diamondbacks."The biggest thing with Matt was getting him stretched out as a starter," Padres manager Andy Green said this spring. "His stuff is big league stuff. He would have helped us either way, out of the bullpen or as a starter. The main thing has always been his health." Strahm had a 2.25 ERA over 20 innings this spring. He had a team-leading 25 strikeouts with a .208 opponents' batting average.--Field Level Media
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