Inside The Diamondbacks

Diamondbacks Final Rotation Spot Battle Ebbs and Flows

Drey Jameson and Ryne Nelson alternate looking both good and shaky in their starts today

SI Editorial

Diamondbacks Final Rotation Spot Battle Ebbs and Flows
Diamondbacks Final Rotation Spot Battle Ebbs and Flows /
In this story:

Drey Jameson and Ryne Nelson both pitched today in split squad action, with split results as the ebb and flow of this position battle continued. Jameson pitched at Salt River Fields in a 11-5 win over the Dodgers and Nelson started in a 11-1 loss against the Cubs.

Jameson, facing the Dodgers at Salt River Fields started off poorly, giving up three runs in the first inning. He walked leadoff batter David Peralta, and gave up doubles to Will Smith and James Outman, and a base hit to Chris Taylor in the inning. 

Jameson walked the leadoff hitter in each of the next two innings but induced ground ball double plays to end the inning both times.  He then struck out the side in the 4th inning.  After recording an out  to start the fifth he gave up a one out walk, his fourth of the game, and then a double to David Peralta, ending his day as Torey Lovullo came out to replace him with Kyle Nelson.  The walk scored on a ground ball, and a fourth run was charged to Jameson. 

His pitching line  was 4.1 IP, 4 Hits, 4 ER, 4 Walks, 7 K's.  He threw 73 pitches, 46 for strikes.   Jameson's sinker velocity was down a bit in this game as he maxed out at 96.4, and averaged 93.8.  He had been topping out between 98-100 in his previous starts. He got nine swing and misses on 28 swings though, eight of them on his slider, which was very sharp today.

Nelson's day against the Cubs at Sloan Park started off much better, retiring the side in the first on a popout, flyout and strikeout.  He walked back to back hitters in the second, but might have gotten out of it were it not for some shaky first base defense from Emmanuel Rivera. The experimental first baseman failed to make a play on a catchable popup in foul territory and then had a ball glance off his glove for an RBI base hit by Tucker Barnhardt. Jose Herrera helped Nelson out of the jam, catching Barnhardt stealing to end the 2nd. 

Nelson retired the side in order in both the third and fourth innings. To this point he hadn't struck out many batters but was inducing a lot of lazy fly balls and popouts.  He ran out of gas in the fifth as he started getting loose with his fastball command, leaving balls up.  Back to back singles by Eric Hosmer and Edwin Rios were followed by a sac bunt and another base hit scoring two runs. One fly out later and Nelson was removed from the game. 

His final line was 4.2 IP, 4 Hits, 3 ER, 2 Walks, 3 K's. Nelson had five flyouts to three ground outs. He unofficially threw 74 pitches. There is no Statcast data available for this game. 

It’s hard to say if either pitcher gained an edge in the competition. Torey Lovullo said this morning that no decision had been made and each pitcher would get one more start before the team needs to head to Los Angeles for the season opener. With so few games remaining it’s possible one of those will need to be a minor league back field game. If one of them gets the ball in the Tuesday day game at Chase Field against the Guardians, that could possibly be a sign of who will come out on top. Watch this space.

Bullpen

Most of the regular bullpen pitched in the home game against the Dodgers.

vs. Dodgers

Kyle Nelson retired all three Dodgers he faced, two on ground ball outs. 

Jeurys Familia had a pitch clock violation on a full count and gave up a hit, but recorded a pair of strikeouts to strand both runners to end the sixth.

Andrew Chafin pitched a scoreless seventh inning, recording one strikeout and hit a batter.

Scott McGough got the eighth. After a one-out walk to Chris Taylor and a infield hit from James Outman, McGough got a shallow fly ball to center before allowing a run-scoring single. Catcher Gabriel Moreno gunned down a would-be basestealer for the final out of the inning.

at Cubs

Cole Sulser came in after Nelson in the fifth and recorded the final out. Sulser pitched around a two-out walk in the sixth to post a zero. After walking the first batter of the seventh, he was lifted for Luis Frías. Frías failed to retire any of the five batters he faced, on two singles and three walks in what ended up being a 7-run inning.  

At the plate:

The Diamondbacks offense exploded for 10 runs against the Dodgers in the bottom of the first inning. They rapped out five singles, a double and homers by Nick Ahmed, Dominic Canzone and Kyle Lewis.

Moreno also hit his third homer of the spring. With the young catcher suddenly thrust into the starting role, they're going to need him to provide some offense at the position.

Over at Sloan Park , Corbin Carroll continued to fill up the box score. He walked and stole a base in the third inning. Then he hit a stand up triple on a line drive into the right centerfield gap, scoring on a throwing error on a pickoff attempt to first. 

The Diamondbacks host the Reds at Salt River Fields tomorrow at 1:10 P.M. Zac Gallen, who is the presumptive opening day starter, will be making his final start of spring training. 

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