D-backs’ Ian Kennedy hopes he’s past early-season struggles

Ian Kennedy doesn’t think he’s “back.”

The Diamondbacks right-hander, who won 21 games and
emerged
as an ace last season, was 3-5 with a 4.65 ERA entering
Wednesday’s game against the Giants.

Then he pitched 7.1 innings, giving up just five hits and
one run, and the hope is he’s turned his season around.

“The last couple of weeks — the last couple of starts,
especially — I haven’t been throwing particularly well,
so
the other night I started to feel like I got in a nice
little groove there against the Giants,” Kennedy told
Arizona Sports 620’s Doug and Wolf Friday. “I felt like
early in the season I didn’t feel as sharp as I wanted to
be.

“I still was throwing pretty well but not as good as I
wanted to.”

Kennedy, of course, is glad to have pitched well and
helped the D-backs win. The team has been struggling this
season, and a sweep at the hands of the Giants would have
been really damaging.

So if in fact he has turned a corner and will now look
like the Kennedy of yesteryear, the D-backs will really be
in business. Even if Kennedy himself doesn’t think he’s
changed much in his approach.

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