Diamondbacks LHP Robbie Ray struggles, ‘not worried’ about Cactus League debut

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Avoid deep counts. Throw deep into games.

In other words, pitch efficiently.

That is the goal of left-hander Robbie Ray as he enters his third season with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

That is not what happened, however, in his Cactus League debut Wednesday against the Chicago White Sox at Camelback Ranch.

The 2017 Ray looked very much like the 2016 Ray: a lot of pitches thrown over a limited amount of time.

“I’m not worried at all,” he said. “First time out in spring training, I’m not really concerned about it.”

Three walks overshadowed Ray’s 1.1 scoreless innings that included one strikeout. The only balls put in play were a pair of grounders. The other out came via a caught stealing.

For the first game, the focus, according to Ray, was to just get comfortable once again on the mound in a competitive setting.

“I felt good. Maybe it was just getting the first time back out on the mound (for why) I was a little jittery, but I felt good,” he said. “I felt like the ball was coming out pretty good and threw some good off-speed pitches today, too, so that was good.”

Ray threw a first-pitch strike to five of the six batters faced, and he got ahead in the count (0-2 or 1-2) four times. The problem was Ray ended up walking two of those hitters: center fielder Adam Engel to leadoff the game and third baseman Matt Davidson.

Ray ended the first inning with 30 pitches. He threw five more, retiring catcher Geovany Soto on a ground ball, before manager Torey Lovullo made the call to the bullpen.

“Overall, I thought he did a great job of competing with men in scoring position and wiggling out of the first inning without giving up a run, but that’s really not what we’re evaluating,” Lovullo said. “He didn’t execute his pitches as perfectly as he probably had wanted to, but like I’ve been saying for the rest of the guys, it’s the first time they’ve been on the mound. They’re probably a little excited, and they haven’t really found a rhythm yet.”

Of Ray’s 35 total pitches, 19 went for strikes.

“Probably the next few starts, when I’m throwing three, four, five innings,” he said when asked about becoming a more efficient pitcher. “That’s when I start focusing on really honing down and then getting into myself and really feeling my pitches the way I normally do.”

Last season, Ray walked 71 batters, issuing three or more free passes 10 times. He also struggled to go deep into games, pitching at least seven innings only five times.

The D-backs, though, remain high on the 25-year-old Ray, who set career highs in wins (8), starts (32), innings (174.1) and strikeouts (218).

The strikeout total tied for fourth-most in all of baseball.

“I’m just going out there every day and trying to give my team a quality start, so that’s the main thing,” he said. “If the strikeouts are there, that’s great, but I just want to go out there and put up quality starts and give my team the chance to win.”

BASE HITS

— With Paul Goldschmidt not in the lineup, Chris Herrmann got the start at first base, where he saw action in two games last season. Herrmann, Daniel Descalso and non-roster invitee Jason Pridie are all candidates to be the backup at that position, according to Lovullo.

Descalso, however, has spent much of his time this spring receiving reps at second base to help prepare him for Team Italy and the World Baseball Classic.

Pridie, meanwhile, has spent his entire big-league career (parts of seven seasons) as an outfielder.

— Speaking of Goldschmidt, Lovullo wants the four-time all-star to be at his all-star best all season long, so you can expect Goldschmidt to earn a few more days off this year.

“As much as you want those players to play every day, they need rest,” said Lovullo, who pegged Goldschmidt’s playing time in the mid-150s. “He’s reluctant to do it, as we all would’ve imagined, and that’s what great players are. They don’t ever want to miss a moment, but for us to be at our best every single day we’re going to need some time down for him and I think he understands that.”

Goldschmidt started 157 games last season.

— Third baseman Jake Lamb had two hits, including a double, his second extra-base hit in four at-bats, and run scored in the D-backs 3-2 loss before an announced crowd of 2,896.

Shortstop Chris Owings and right fielder David Peralta each recorded RBI.

— Closer Fernando Rodney is slated to make his D-backs spring debut on Thursday. Rodney is a bit behind the other relievers as he was a late arrival to camp because of visa issues.

Meanwhile, it shouldn’t be too much longer before reliever Rubby De La Rosa, who dealt with elbow issues for much of 2016, takes the mound in a game setting. “He’s doing just fine. He threw a live BP yesterday and threw the ball very well,” Lovullo said.

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