Arizona Diamondbacks’ Merrill Kelly (35) will start Game 2 of the World Series.

Arizona announced the starting pitchers for Games 1 and 2 of the World Series against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, on April 28 and 29. Zach Gallon will start Game 1 and Kelly will start Game 2. Brandon Potts will start Game 3 on June 31 at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona.

Kelly is a prime example of a “KBO reverse export,” a player who used his success in the KBO to make his major league debut. From 2015 to 2018, he pitched for SK (now SSG), going 48-32 with a 3.86 ERA in 119 games (729⅔ innings) and winning the Korean Series in 2018. Following this performance, Kelly signed with Arizona to fulfill his dream of making his big league debut, and over the course of his five-year career, he went 48-43 with a 3.80 ERA in 127 games (750⅔ innings).

Kelly, who had won the Korean Series but never played in the major league postseason, got his first taste of fall baseball this season as Arizona went 84-78 and narrowly missed the postseason for the third wild-card spot in the National League.

In his first major league postseason start, Kelly performed well and helped lead Arizona’s fall surge. In three games (17 innings), Kelly went 2-1 with a 2.65 ERA as Arizona defeated Milwaukee in the Wild Card Series, the Dodgers in the Division Series, and the Phillies in the League Championship Series to reach the World Series for the first time in 22 years since 2001. It is the second World Series appearance in franchise history.

Only five players in history have appeared in both the Korean Series and World Series, including Kelly. Carlos Baerga (1995 Cleveland World Series runner-up, 2001 Samsung Korea Series runner-up), Ryu Hyun-jin (2006 Hanwha Korea Series runner-up, 2018 Dodgers World Series runner-up), Yasiel Puig (2017-2018 Dodgers World Series runner-up, 2022 Kiwoom Korea Series runner-up), and Juan Lagares (2015 Mets World Series runner-up, 2022 SSG Korea Series winner) have played in both the Korean Series and World Series. No player has ever won both the Korean Series and World Series. 카지노사이트

Texas announced Nathan Eovaldi as their starter for Game 1. They didn’t announce a starter for Game 2.