D-backs turn to Randall Delgado during Kennedy suspension

After originally appealing the 10-game suspension Major League Baseball handed him for his role in last week’s bench-clearing brawl with the Dodgers in Los Angeles, Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Ian Kennedy began serving the penalty Monday night.

The supension — the longest given to a pitcher since 2005 — leaves manager Kirk Gibson no choice but to shuffle his pitching rotation with Kennedy not eligible to return until June 29 when the D-backs play the Braves in Atlanta.

“(Randall) Delgado will start on Tuesday, that’s the start of it,” Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said after Monday’s 3-2 loss to the Florida Marlins at Chase Field. “We’ll have to wait and see where we’re at and how our pitching is.

“We have to decide whether we’re going to be short a position player or short a pitcher. Based upon how the games go, we’ll determine what we do.”

Delgado, acquired from Atlanta in the Justin Upton trade in January, has struggled at Triple-A Reno this season. The 23-year-old right-hander is just 2-5 with a 5.91 ERA in 13 starts for the Aces this season. In 64 innings of work, Delgado has walked 35 batters — the fifth-most in the Pacific Coast League.

Delgado did work two innings in relief for the Diamondbacks June 3 in a 7-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. He allowed four hits and two earned runs while striking out three.

Two of Delgado’s five big league wins have come against the Marlins. On September 20, 2011, Delgado threw five innings of shutout baseball for the Braves in a 4-0 win over the Marlins. Last June 6, Delgado allowed just one run over 6.1 innings while striking out seven in a 2-1 win in Miami.

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