Goldschmidt homers, Diamondbacks beat Indians 4-2

3/15/2014

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Patrick Corbin was nine pitches and seven days away from completing his final tune up.

Arizona’s scheduled opening day starter was scheduled to throw 100 pitches, but felt tightness in his left forearm on the 91st pitch in the Diamondbacks’ 4-2 victory over Cleveland on Saturday.

Corbin left with a 2-2 count on Cleveland’s David Adams with one out in the seventh and immediately rode back to Arizona’s training facility at Salt River.

“He called us out with some stiffness in his forearm so obviously we took him out,” manager Kirk Gibson said. “We have no answers for you. We’ll have the doctors look at him. He felt some stiffness just below the elbow. We certainly hope it has nothing to do with the elbow.”

Corbin struck out seven and walked none in 6 1-3 innings, his final outing before starting the season opener next Saturday in Australia against Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw. The left-hander limited Cleveland to two runs — none earned — on 10 hits.

“We will look at it. Rest assured we’ll be cautious,” Gibson said. “Patrick started out slow but kind of settled down. He started pitching pretty good. It stinks what happened at the end. If you look at the pitch efficiency, he threw 24 pitches in the second inning but after that he made an adjustment. The other innings he had eight or nine pitches.”

Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero was concerned about Corbin.

“I thought it was his ankle or groin or something because he was throwing good,” Montero said. “There was nothing different. Of course, I’m concerned especially him. He was the guy to pitch the first game for us. I don’t know what the situation is with him. He’s our weapon.”

Corbin wasn’t as sharp as he normally is, especially with the breaking ball.

“His breaking ball was backing up a little bit. There were some two strike counts where he really couldn’t put them away with his breaking ball like he normally does. That (tight forearm) might be the reason why,” Montero said.

Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer and an RBI double for Arizona.

Goldschmidt, who won the NL Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards at first base last season, homered for the first time this spring when he connected off Frank Herrmann in the first inning. Martin Prado followed with his first home run of the spring, and Goldschmidt added a run-scoring double off Vinnie Pestano in the third.

Herrmann pitched in his second game since elbow reconstruction sidelined him for nearly a year. The reliever didn’t finish the first inning.

The Indians designated this a bullpen day, using seven pitchers.

Mike Aviles went 3 for 3 with an RBI double for Cleveland.

STARTING TIME

Indians: Frank Herrmann started but it was a bullpen day. Nine pitchers are scheduled to pitch on inning each. Herrmann is 50 weeks removed from right elbow reconstructive surgery. He didn’t make it through the first inning. He gave up home runs to Paul Goldschmidt and Martin Prado.

“It was Frank’s second outing. It is probably hard for him to be happy about it,” manager Terry Francona said. “From our side of it he continues to grow. It’s going to take a while. He just needs some reps.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Diamondbacks: Bronson Arroyo has never been on the disabled list in his career. A bulging disk in his back threatens to put him on the list for the first time in his career. Arroyo is playing long toss from 105 feet...First baseman Danny Dorn fractured his right wrist when he was hit by a pitch from Nick Maronde of the Angels on March 2...Outfielder Cody Ross is recovering from a dislocated right hip from a game on August 11. He played in an intrasquad game on Wednesday. Ross is expected to play again on Sunday.

Cleveland: Bryan LaHair will test his left wrist against the Giants in Scottsdale on Sunday. Manager Terry Francona plans to get LaHair three at-bats...Right-hander Shaun Marcum had thoracic outlet surgery pitched in live batting practice...Outfielder Nyjer Morgan is day-to-day with a mild strain of his left calf. “He is chomping at the bit,” Francona said. “I can’t play him until the medical staff clears him. We are protecting him from himself."...

BULLPEN DAY

The six Indians pitchers that followed Herrmann combined for 6 1/3 scoreless innings. John Axford, who is the likely closer and setup man Vinnie Pestano were in the game earlier than normal.

“It was kind of nice the way it worked out,” Francona said. “Axford and Vinnie faced their main lineup. That’s hard to do in spring training.

Nick Hagadone pitched 2 1-3 innings. Axford, Pestano, Marc Rzepczynski, Josh Outman, Blake Wood and Scott Barnes pitched an inning each.

“Rzep (Rzepczynski) has quickly earned trust here,” Francona said. “It doesn’t have to be just left-handers. He has big movement he can spin his breaking ball. He can limit damage.”

BACKUP CATCHER

Carlos Santana has shown that he can play third base for the Indians. Yet, the team wants to keep his catching skills intact.

“Carlos is willing to try going back and forth from catcher to third base,” Francona said. “We will let him catch a bullpen, probably Monday. We’ll let him catch Tuesday. It’s not etched in stone. We are trying to balance the amount of work he’s done to play third. He’s out there every morning. Doing the catching if he can handle it, it is kind of a unique skill set. He’s been a catcher for six years and a third baseman for half a season in winter ball and seven games here.”