D-backs’ Taylor Widener to come off the injured list, will pitch Sunday

Diamondbacks pitcher Taylor Widener will come off the injured list for Arizona and is scheduled to pitch for the D-backs on Sunday, manager Torey Lovullo said on Saturday.

“I’m definitely very excited to come back,” Widener said. “It’s a long season. All these teams, there’s a lot of guys that are injured throughout the league right now. And we’ve just hit a little bump in the road right now and we’re going to turn things around soon.”

Widener will make his first pitching appearance since April 22, after sustaining a groin strain against the Cincinnati Reds.

“I was on a light jog in the outfield and I kind of felt like a little twinge in my groin,” Widener describing his injury via Zoom. “And I was hoping I was like ‘maybe it’s just a little muscle spasm.’ So I went and tried to foam roll and do some stuff to get it to go away and it just kind of didn’t really feel very good.”

The right-handed pitcher went on to say the he told Arizona’s training staff about his injury shortly after experiencing some pain.

The 26-year-old was glad he did as his groin felt worse the morning after the initial injury.

Widener pitched in a rehab assignment for the Reno Aces on May 18 where he went 4.2 innings, gave up two earned runs and struck out six batter over 74 pitches.

“I felt very good actually,” Widener said on his rehab start. “I know I gave up two home runs. But I felt like I was hitting my spots and one of the home runs kind of just floated out there. Another one was just a bad pitch. But other than those two pitches, I mean, I felt like I was getting ahead of guys, and I was using my stuff pretty well.”

On the year, the D-backs pitcher has appeared in four games for Arizona and has posted a 1-0 record with an ERA of 2.82 and 18 strikeouts in 22.1 innings of work.

The 26-year-old right handed pitcher will take the mound for Arizona in the series finale against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday.