Trea Turner immediately made Merrill Kelly eat his words in Game 2
By Scott Rogust
The Philadelphia Phillies took a 1-0 lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League Championship Series. With Game 2 on Tuesday night, Diamondbacks starting pitcher Merrill Kelly made waves for his comments about Citizens Bank Park, home of the Phillies.
Kelly said that he felt the atmosphere at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Fla., for Team USA's World Baseball Classic win over Venezuela was louder than Philadelphia for the NLCS. This was brought to the attention of Phillies shortstop Trea Turner, who told reporters, "he can maybe tell you after tonight what it's like," at Citizens Bank Park.
Well, Kelly got a taste of it early on in Game 2. In the bottom of the first inning, Turner stepped up to the plate as Philadelphia's second batter and crushed a 421-foot home run to the left-center field stands to give the Phillies an early 1-0 lead.
That was the call on the TBS broadcast. Here's the call of Turner's home run on the MLB Network Spanish broadcast.
Trea Turner shows Merrill Kelly how loud Citizens Bank Park can get with NLCS Game 2 homer
Kelly's comments about the atmosphere at Citizens Bank Park were before Game 1 of the series on Monday night. The starting pitcher said that while he hasn't been on the field in Philadelphia for a postseason game, he didn't envision it getting as loud as the aforementioned WBC game. That was the game in which Turner hit a grand slam to lead Team USA to victory.
"...And then going into the WBC game, I obviously haven't heard this place on the field, but I'd be very surprised if it trumped that Venezuela game down in Miami," said Kelly.
During Game 1 of the NLCS, the noise level reached as high as 111 decibels following Bryce Harper's solo home run, per FOX 29. That decibel total was 10 short of matching the noise of a jet taking off.
This homer helped redeem Turner a bit, as he committed an error at shortstop that allowed Diamondbacks rookie Corbin Carroll to reach first base. Luckily for Turner, Carroll did not score, as the Phillies starting pitcher Aaron Nola retired Ketel Marte, Tommy Pham, and Christian Walker in succession to get out of the inning.
After that homer, Kelly heard how loud it gets at Citizens Bank Park.