D-backs starter Taijuan Walker progressing, Randall Delgado to start Saturday
May 30, 2017, 3:01 PM | Updated: 3:52 pm
Good news from @Dbacks pitcher Taijuan Walker – hopeful to start on Sunday in Miami. pic.twitter.com/AQIiG1M7m9
— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) May 30, 2017
Pitcher Taijuan Walker, who is on the Diamondbacks’ 10-day disabled list with a blister on his right index finger, threw a positive simulation game Tuesday and said there were no setbacks as he attempts to return to the mound this weekend.
“It went very well for Taijuan,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo told Burns and Gambo on 98.7 FM, Arizona’s Sports Station. “He threw well over a 60-pitch simulated game if you add up all of his warmup pitches. Everything felt very, very good. We’ll see how he feels tonight and see how he progresses.”
Should Walker’s blister react well to his Tuesday session, he could potentially make a return five days later on Sunday against the Marlins.
“It’s been 10 days since I’ve thrown without the tape so did that and then after 10 pitches it started feeling better and (I) started locking in,” Walker told FOX Sports Arizona’s Jody Jackson. “That’s where I feel like it’s the most (of an issue) is the changeup. I threw quite a bit of changeup and I felt pretty good.”
While Lovullo wasn’t ready to announce Walker’s next step and the pitcher said he will take everything day-by-day, the D-backs manager did confirm that reliever Randall Delgado, who has filled in for Walker with two starts, would make another starting appearance this Saturday at Miami.
Walker went on the disabled list May 21 and has missed his last two starts. Rather than making a call-up from the minors, the D-backs have turned to Delgado. He went four innings with one earned run (two total) and three hits allowed to set Arizona up for an 8-6 victory at home against the Chicago White Sox in his first start of the year.
On Monday against the Pirates, Delgado pitched 5.2 innings, recording eight strikeouts and no walks along with five hits and an earned run allowed. He left the game in the sixth with the game tied, 1-1 before Arizona eventually fell, 4-3.
“We know that he’s been throwing the ball very, very well and we love what we’re getting out of him,” Lovullo said of Delgado on Tuesday.
