Saunders pleased with first spring start

Back in December, when Joe Saunders was non-tendered by
the Arizona Diamondbacks and became a free agent, few
(including Saunders himself) thought that the veteran
would be in camp with Arizona.

But in a surprising move, the D-backs signed Saunders to a
one-year deal in January, and he was on the hill for
Arizona for the first time this spring against the Texas
Rangers at Salt River Fields.

Texas pounded the D-backs 16-3, but it wasn’t Saunders’
doing. The lefty went two innings, yielding 5 hits and 2
runs, including a solo home run by former D-back Conor
Jackson, but Saunders walked away encouraged by his
performance.

“It felt good to get out there for the first time,” he
said. “I gave up the home run, I threw one middle-middle
and didn’t get it back but it feels good, I like where I’m
at.”

Saunders used his entire compliment of pitches, and
intimated the only thing he wasn’t pleased with was
location.

“It was really just a matter of trying to locate the
fastball in on the hands of right-handed hitters,” he
said. “I figure if that can come along, then I’ll be
right where I need to be.”

Arizona Sports’ Kyndra de St. Aubin contributed to this
report

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