Cubs' Ben Brown bids to pick up more steam vs. Diamondbacks

The Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks enter Monday night's start of a three-game series in Phoenix coming off of series wins.

The Cubs beat the Seattle Mariners in two of three games in Seattle, and the Diamondbacks won two of three contests from the visiting St. Louis Cardinals.

Two right-handers will take the mound Monday when Chicago rookie Ben Brown (0-0, 6.10 ERA) squares off against Arizona's Merrill Kelly (2-0, 2.29).

Brown, making his second big-league start, will face the Diamondbacks for the first time. He has toiled in the minors since he was a 33rd-round pick by the Philadelphia Phillies in 2017. The Cubs acquired him from the Phillies in a trade for relief pitcher David Robertson in 2022.

Brown's first big-league start was last Tuesday. He went 4 2/3 innings in Chicago's 5-1 win at the San Diego Padres. He allowed no runs, three hits, struck out five and walked one.

"I feel pretty peaceful about my performance," Brown said. "It was like the game was a final affirmation that I needed."

Brown's first major-league experience was working 1 2/3 innings against the reigning World Series-champion Texas Rangers on March 30. Brown was charged with six runs on five hits in his team's 11-2 loss.

He then pitched four strong innings of relief against the Colorado Rockies on April 3, allowing one run on three hits while recording five strikeouts and a walk.

"Look, it's a hard league and the league is unforgiving," Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. "You will get knocked down. Kind of what's after that is always the most important thing. And that's a great sign of what Ben did after his first appearance in the big leagues, right?

"He got knocked down his first time, and there was certainly reason for him to say, ‘Oh my God.' And he has come out and pitched with a lot of confidence."

Kelly is 2-1 with a 4.13 ERA in five career starts against the Cubs. He has 25 strikeouts and 16 walks in 28 1/3 innings against them.

In his most recent start, in a 3-2 victory over Colorado in Denver last Tuesday, Kelly allowed two runs on six hits in six innings with four strikeouts and three walks.

"I would have liked to have limited the walks," Kelly said. "A lot of three-ball counts that I don't really enjoy. But all that really matters is the score."

The Cubs' Cody Bellinger, formerly of the Los Angeles Dodgers, an NL West rival of Arizona, has 16 home runs in his career against the Diamondbacks.

Chicago's Michael Busch hit his fourth homer in as many games in a 3-2 win at Seattle on Sunday. He is batting .327 with five home runs and 11 RBIs this season.

Arizona's Christian Walker improved to .300 for the season with a 3-for-4 performance in the 5-0 win over St. Louis on Sunday. He has three home runs and 11 RBIs this season.