Diamondbacks’ starting rotation order set, Patrick Corbin is No. 2 behind Zack Greinke

Mar 30, 2017, 10:25 PM | Updated: Mar 31, 2017, 11:26 am

Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Patrick Corbin warms up during the first inning of a spring training baseball game against the Chicago White Sox Thursday, March 9, 2017, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN

ArizonaSports.com lead editor

PHOENIX — A year ago, he went through his worst season which included a demotion to the bullpen. Now, Patrick Corbin is the Arizona Diamondbacks’ No. 2 pitcher behind ace Zack Greinke.

The 27-year-old lefty, who suffered through a 5-13 record and 5.15 ERA in 2016, earned the second spot in the D-backs’ rotation with a stellar spring of four earned runs in 21 innings pitched for a 1.71 ERA. He’ll be followed by Taijuan Walker — he pitched Thursday in a 6-3 exhibition win against the Cleveland Indians –, Robbie Ray and Shelby Miller.

“Just some of our conversations through the course of spring, trying to stay away from like-deliveries. We really like the opportunities to go right-left-right-left-right, so we decided to take advantage of that,” manager Torey Lovullo said Thursday.

“We just like the way it’s set up in that order and we’ll see where that takes us.”

Walker closed spring throwing five innings at Chase Field. He allowed four hits and struck out four without recording a walk or allowing a run. The right-hander pitched to Chriss Herrmann for three innings before the catcher was replaced by Chris Iannetta.

He threw 65 pitches (39 strikes) in five innings.

“I thought we did a lot of really good things inside the game that we did all spring training long,” Lovullo said. “Taijuan set a very good tone, allowed us to play some downhill baseball. Some heads-up baserunning, some situational hitting, solid defense, it was just a solid, really nice effort all-around for us today.”

BASE HITS

— David Peralta recorded two hits against Indians pitcher Chris Narveson, while Yasmany Tomas and Jake Lamb recorded two RBI each. Lamb’s RBI came on a fifth-inning triple.

— After the game, Arizona purchased the contract of J.J. Hoover, a relief pitcher, while optioning catcher Oscar Hernandez to Double-A Jackson and T.J. McFarland to minor-league camp. That leaves them with a battle for the final bullpen spot — lefty Andrew Chafin and righty Silvino Bracho are the two candidates for that spot, Lovullo said.

— Here is the lineup from Thursday’s exhibition.