D-backs’ young arms impressive in loss
Mar 14, 2012, 11:38 PM | Updated: Mar 15, 2012, 12:46 am
It’s becoming almost a daily theme this spring with the
Arizona Diamondbacks — a young pitcher impresses early in
a Cactus League loss.
Wednesday, it was two young pitchers who impressed. Lefty
Patrick Corbin started and hurled three scoreless innings
while striking out 3 and Trevor Bauer came out of the
bullpen to fan 3 in 2 scoreless innings.
Carlos Quentin and Chase Headley hit back-to-back solo
homers off of Arizona reliever Takashi Saito in the 6th
inning and the Padres erupted for 6 runs in the 9th in an
8-0 win over the Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields.
Corbin, who was acquired by the Diamondbacks in the 2010
trade that sent ace Dan Haren to the Angels, has now
pitched 6.2 innings over 3 appearances and allowed just 1
run.
“I felt pretty good, my fastball in and out which is key,
and I felt like I could do that,” Corbin said. “My
changeup actually was a really good pitch for me today. I
kind of threw against some lefties and got somes swings
and misses, so that was good to see.”
After Corbin held the Padres at bay for 3 innings, Bauer
came out of the bullpen and continued the trend. San
Diego catcher Nick Hundley connected for a 1-out double on
a hanging curve ball from Bauer in the 4th, but the right-
hander recovered and struck out Yonder Alonso and Jonathan
Galvez to end the threat.
In the 5th, Bauer walked Will Venable with two outs, but
then got Mark Kotsay on a grounder to first baseman Lyle
Overbay.
Even though he came out of the bullpen, Bauer said after
the game that his routine wasn’t altered much.
“I simulated a start pretty much, and I always tend to
throw better as the game goes along anyway,” he said.
Bauer simulated that start by throwing 75 warmup pitches
while Corbin was on the mound.
Manager Kirk Gibson was pleased with the performances of
both his young hurlers, especially Corbin.
“He threw it very well, very aggressive,” Gibson said.
“He had a good pace to his game and did a very good job of
holding the runner over there at first, mixed it up and
was very athletic on the one kind of swinging bunt.
“I thought he was really good, real impressive.”
Arizona Sports’ Kyndra de St. Aubin contributed to this
report
