Longtime Arizona Diamondbacks teammates Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly faced each other for the first time in their careers on Wednesday, and while the now-Texas Rangers pitcher lasted longer, the D-backs came out ahead.
Because Texas led 3-2 when Gallen exited, Kelly will maintain his sole position as third in Diamondbacks history for pitcher wins (62). Gallen sits one win behind.
The D-backs had the last laugh as Ketel Marte smashed a go-ahead, three-run home run with two outs in the ninth to give the D-backs a 6-4 lead and the win.
You wanted to face Ketel Marte. You sure about that? pic.twitter.com/QRZPuBemdb
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) August 13, 2025
After two strikeouts to start the inning, James McCann launched a homer to left field to cut the Rangers’ lead to one run.
Blaze Alexander was hit by a pitch and Geraldo Perdomo drew a walk to set up Marte’s moonshot to right center.
In the first inning, Marte became the first Diamondback to get a hit against their former teammate, Kelly, and Gallen surrendered the game’s first run when Evan Carter singled home Josh Smith. Kelly responded with a clean second inning before Gallen allowed a walk but no other baserunners.
Marte showed the first inning was no fluke when he had an RBI single to score Perdomo, who had worked a walk and a steal against a pitcher with whom he had numerous mound visits over the years.
Marte finished 3-for-3 against Kelly with the RBI.
Texas pounced on Gallen in the fourth inning, when Jake Burger launched a 434-foot home run to score two runs and give the Rangers a 3-1 lead.
Gallen pitched just one more inning to finish the day with three earned runs on five hits and two walks in five innings.
Kelly, meanwhile, had a clean sixth inning to finish a two-run, seven-hit and five-strikeout performance against the club he pitched his first 162 games for.
Andrew Saalfrank came on in the ninth to earn his first save of the season.
