It might have been Brandon Pfaadt's turn to start, but it was Tommy Henry's day. Henry pitched three scoreless, hitless innings in a Diamondbacks 8-6, come-from-behind win against the Guardians in Goodyear.
Pfaadt, making his first appearance of the Cactus League, pitched just one inning, throwing 23 pitches by my unofficial count. He didn't have good command or feel for his stuff in this game, falling behind with ball one to four of the six hitters he faced. He allowed a walk, a single and a double, giving up two runs in the first.
Pfaadt felt it was a good outing nonetheless. "Obviously the results weren't what we wanted, but I think just to get out there and get the feet wet, nothing to complain about." Pfaadt threw 14 fastballs ranging between 92-94, a couple of changeups, and seven sliders. Torey Lovullo said "Brandon was just running away from his arm a little bit, and leaving things driving things armside. I think he would try to [over] correct and yanked some balls.....I have zero concern about his outing today."
Henry came on in the second inning and retired the side in order on eight pitches. He worked around a one out walk in the second inning and retired the side in order again in the third. Henry needed just 29 pitches to record the nine outs, and then went down to the bullpen to throw 16 more to get his total up to 45 for the day.
Lovullo said that Henry "threw the ball exceptionally well, was commanding all his pitches, mixing all of his pitches." Henry felt the biggest difference in feel was the third up-down, or going from two innings to three. "The two to three jump feels like the first real start of the season. Like two you can argue is still a kind of bullpen, now that third up your body is treating it more like a start"
A couple of minor league pitchers, Konnor Pilkington and Austin Pope combined to give up four runs. Pope was pulled from the game with the bases loaded and nobody out in favor of Kyle Backhus. The submarining left-hander proceeded to strike out the side in most impressive fashion, getting two looking and one swinging. He was fearless in attacking the strike zone and the hitters were not able to pick up his motion and movement. Backhus is a name to watch.
Lovullo said of Backhus' outing "didn't wince, he didn't blink. That's exactly what I'm looking for, bases loaded, nobody out, he barely threw any balls.....that's what you want a young pitcher to do when he comes into a game like that. Block out the noise and attack the zone. What does it say? It says he's got a good heartbeat. I want to see him do it again."
On offense there were plenty of highlights for the D-backs.
Tucker Barnhart laced an RBI double to right in the second inning.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a solo homer in the 4th, reaching down to poke a breaking ball. He also had a base hit.
Jordan Lawlar drew two walks and had a base hit. He was thrown out at second base on a baserunning mistake however, rounding the bag with his head down. Pavin Smith was on second when Barnhart smacked his second hit, a chopper up the middle. Smith broke back towards second before heading on to third and was unable to score on the play. Lawlar was running with his head down and didn't pick up the coach or Smith, taking too big a turn before getting thrown out.
Asked about that sequence, Lovullo rather wryly said "We're not going to miss that one. We've been talking about it for three innings." There were knowing chuckles all around with the press pool.
Caleb Roberts had an unusual broken bat two-run triple in the top of the 9th to tie the game. The ball shot down the line and went all the way into the corner.
Sheng-Ping Chen had an RBI double in the 8th and an RBI single as part of a four-run 9th.
Lawlar made an outstanding play in the 5th, snaring a sharp one-hopper off the bat of former Diamondback Deyvison De Los Santos. The ball was heading towards the hole between third and short. Lawlar dove, snared the ball, and came up throwing to nail the runner.
More must-reads: