Top of D-backs order strings it together; Peralta volunteers, gets vaccination

SCOTTSDALE — Ketel Marte, David Peralta, Josh Rojas, Eduardo Escobar and Asdrubal Cabrera.

Those Arizona Diamondbacks have all had relatively strong springs thus far — all but Escobar are batting above .300 — and those players in that order looked darn good Wednesday in a night tune-up against the Cleveland Indians at Salt River Fields. They did all their damage in a 6-5 win.

The top five batters in the order combined for six RBIs, six runs, seven hits and three walks.

Four of those players have put together major league success over multiple seasons. Rojas, who played shortstop and second base against Cleveland, entered training camp just hoping to make enough of an impression to make the 26-man roster.

A week before Arizona opens its season in San Diego, it appears that it would be hard to count him out of the Opening Day roster as he’s batted .345 in Cactus League play.

“It’s the balls that he’s swinging at and the balls that he’s not swinging at,” that has impressed manager Torey Lovullo, the skipper said.

“On the other side of the ball, he’s been playing really, really good defense,” Lovullo added. “He’s got a nose for the baseball, and he’s been very comfortable at shortstop. That was something I was looking for during the course of spring training. He’s done as much as he can to open my eyes.”

Lovullo stopped short of calling Rojas the backup shortstop to Nick Ahmed. But:

“Under most circumstances, I would say ‘yes,'” Lovullo said. “But out of fairness with what’s happening here, we haven’t named all of our complete team. … I just want to make sure I don’t go too far for that. But like I said, he’s done an exceptional job at an area I was looking for.”

While Rojas went 2-of-3 with two RBIs and a walk, Wednesday evening started off well for the D-backs thanks to a more well-known commodity.

Leading off, Marte battered a home run to dead center on the second pitch of the game from Cleveland starter Aaron Civale, putting the D-backs ahead 1-0.

With the Diamondbacks down 3-1 in the bottom of the third, Marte walked on his next plate appearance to set up a first-pitch double by Peralta. Rojas, batting next, lined a two-RBI double to tie the game, 3-3, before getting caught in a fielder’s choice rundown as Escobar reached.

Cabrera then cranked a home run to far right field for Arizona to take a 5-3 lead, all thanks to the top of the order.

A similar pattern occurred in the fifth inning: Marte walked and Peralta lined a double.

And when Rojas hit into an out, the fourth man in the order, Escobar, hit a right-field single to score Marte. That put Arizona ahead, 6-4, before the regulars hit the showers.

Smith’s hot-and-cold outing

Caleb Smith couldn’t drop his ERA below 6.00 with his longest game yet, but he did have his moments.

The 29-year-old acquired in the Starling Marte trade last season went 88 pitches and 5.2 innings, surrendering five earned runs to go with five strikeouts and two walks.

He had mostly strong frames but got tripped up in a second inning that saw him toss 24 pitches and give up three earned runs, though Ketel Marte losing a ball in center field didn’t help matters.

Varsho needs fine-tuning

The D-backs sent catcher/outfielder Daulton Varsho to Triple-A Reno on Wednesday, and Lovullo probably didn’t need to be asked the reason why.

This spring, Varsho batted 6-of-44 with 13 strikeouts to one walk while slashing .136/.174/.295.

“Things were just not clicking for him,” Lovullo said. “Fundamentally he had a few things outlined for him. We want both sides of his game to find consistency and work out a couple kinks.

“We just want him to be the best version of himself.”

Peralta helps at vaccination site

Peralta went 2-for-3 with two doubles and a run scored Wednesday, a day after he volunteered at a coronavirus vaccination site — and got his own shot.

He said he was happy “to help the community. We need to stop spreading the virus and vaccinate everyone to go back to normal.”

Peralta said he suffered no side effects other than a sore arm.

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