Diamondbacks set rotation for NLCS, with Gallen-Kelly to start Games 1-2
The Diamondbacks will give the ball to right-handers Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly in Games 1 and 2, respectively, opening the National League Championship Series with their two best pitchers.
“We’ve got 1A and 1B and they’re going to start Game 1 and Game 2, 5 and 6, and hopefully they get to pitch as many games as possible in this series,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said.
Gallen and Kelly started in the reverse order in the division series, a trickle-down effect of how the rotation shook out over the final weekend of the season and into the wild-card round.
The Philadelphia Phillies are expected to counter with their own 1-2 punch in right-handers Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola, making for an intriguing matchup in both games.
Lovullo said the club was leaving its starters in Games 3 and 4 as “TBA,” though he intimated that right-hander Brandon Pfaadt would be the natural choice to start Game 3 at Chase Field assuming things didn’t go too far off course before that.
“Some of the plans we’re laying down might get blown up because of an extra-inning game in Game 1 or 2 or shortened outings, that type of stuff,” Lovullo said. “I’m not budgeting for that, but I think we all have to prepare for the best-case and the worst-case scenario.”
Lovullo said he and his staff had a 90-minute meeting on Friday to run through such scenarios.
The Diamondbacks, who went with 14 position players and 12 pitchers during each of the first two rounds, were considering shifting to an even split.
“We’re considering 13 and 13,” Lovullo said, “but we haven’t yet firmed that up yet.”
Given that he was left off the original division series roster before an injury to Jake McCarthy, infielder Jace Peterson would figure to be the most likely player to lose his spot for this round. Right-hander Bryce Jarvis was on the wild-card roster but not the division series.
Speaking of McCarthy, Lovullo all but ruled him out for the remainder of the postseason. McCarthy was diagnosed with a Grade 2 strain of his right lat and would miss “months, not weeks,” Lovullo said.
Gabriel Moreno update
Catcher Gabriel Moreno did not participate in Friday’s workout, in which the Diamondbacks played a 6 1/2-inning intrasquad game at Chase Field, but club continues to expect him to be ready to go for Game 1 on Monday.
“We are full steam ahead with him being our starting catcher for Game 1,” Lovullo said. “That is our intent.”
Moreno was hit on the right hand by a foul bunt attempt during Game 3 of the division series on Wednesday night. X-rays came back negative and Moreno said that night he expected to be ready to go for the next series.
Lovullo said Moreno would get “some work” on Friday, then intimated that he would also participate in the team’s workouts on Saturday at Chase Field and Sunday at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
“We’ll get him a lot of time to see how he’s feeling, test it out,” Lovullo said. “I think it’s obviously soreness.”
Brotherly love for Kelly
Kelly’s outing in Game 2 won’t be his first playoff experience at Citizens Bank Park.
Last year, he flew his brother, Reid to Philadelphia for Game 3 of the World Series as a birthday present.
“He grew up a huge Phillies fan his whole life,” Kelly said. “We lived outside of Philly growing up.”
The Phillies won the game, 7-0, connecting for five homers against the Houston Astros.
“He was super pumped,” Kelly said. “For the next week or however long this series goes, I would imagine he’s going to be wearing a D-Backs uni.”
Kelly sounded unsure if the experience in the stands will benefit him in his start.
“I feel like watching it as a fan is way different than being on the field,” he said. “I’m interested to see what that energy feels like actually on the field.”
He added, “I’ve seen them probably as loud as they can possibly be. I have a hard time believing that anything I’m about to experience is louder than that.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Diamondbacks set rotation for NLCS vs. Phillies, mull makeup of roster
