Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly is still searching for his first quality start of the 2026 season. Six more earned runs in 4.1 innings in an 8-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs Sunday afternoon certainly did not help his season numbers. But for as poor as his line looked, and the 9.95 ERA he now possesses, Sunday's start was more of an encouragement than many might think. Kelly was still not his sharpest self in his fourth start back from the injured list, but his command was notably improved. Unfortunately, some poor batted-ball luck and an ill-timed mistake pitch turned what was trending toward a lengthy, effective outing into another ugly result. "Early and late, I think there was a tale of two outings," manager Torey Lovullo said of Kelly's performance, speaking to D-backs.TV's Todd Walsh. "But early on, I thought he was good. ... innings one through four, I thought he was efficient in doing his job.…