Diamondbacks' Offense, Ryne Nelson Down Athletics in Mesa

The Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Athletics by a score of 5-2 on Wednesday in Mesa behind a solid start from young righty Ryne Nelson.

Nelson tossed 3.2 strong innings in his second Cactus League start. While he only recorded one strikeout, and gave up a handful of loud outs, he was very efficient, and looked to showcase better command than his previous outings.

He did allow his first run of Spring Training - a solo homer to Athletics' infielder CJ Alexander, who is the brother of Diamondbacks' infielder Blaze Alexander. The solo homer was the only run allowed by Nelson, and he didn't issue a walk on the day.

Nelson was overall pleased with his day, and reflected on the outing to Diamondbacks On SI's Jack Sommers postgame.

"I think it's progressing, it's getting there, it's getting to where I want it to be. The fastball command was a lot better today than it has been, and I feel like one of the things that I've been focusing on that's jumped out to me is that I wasn't getting ahead of guys, and I think I did a good job of that today," Nelson said.

Nelson praised the defense of his center fielder, as Alek Thomas ran down a hard-hit ball, making the catch look easy, as he frequently does.

"I was joking with Alek [about] how it's usually not a good sign when you see the outfielder turn their back and run straight to the wall, but that's definitely a guy that you trust when he puts his head down. He has really good skills with picking the ball up, and sometimes they turn their back and that means it's going over the fence, but not always with Alek."

Nelson said he feels about "three quarters" of the way up to full strength, but felt his current level would be enough to compete if needed.

"I think if Opening Day was tomorrow, I'd be able to go out there and compete, but I definitely think that there's levels to it," Nelson said.

The D-backs' offense didn't have an explosive day, but a pair of doubles by Jorge Barrosa and Ketel Marte spotted Arizona a 1-0 lead in the third inning. After the Alexander homer, Pavin Smith got into one for a moonshot to right center and a 2-1 Diamondbacks lead.

Left-hander Kyle Nelson allowed a double to lead off the fifth, then sailed a pickoff attempt to second base to allow the runner to advance. A single later made the score 2-2 on an unearned run not charged to Nelson.

Yilber Díaz threw 2.1 innings in relief, and allowed just one base hit while striking out two. He issued two walks. Ryan Thompson collected one out with no baserunners allowed, and left-hander Jake Rice threw 0.2 scoreless innings.

Arizona pulled ahead in the eighth inning, after a Jack Hurley single, a Ryan Waldschmidt hit-by-pitch, and another single off the bat of Juan Corniel. With Waldschmidt at third, Athletics' catcher Willie MacIver sailed a back-pick of his own, allowing Waldschmidt to easily make it 4-2.

After a leadoff single and fielder's choice, the D-backs snuck one more run across in the ninth as catcher René Pinto ricocheted a ground ball off the second base bag to score Jose Fernandez and bring the score to 5-2.

Juan Morillo and his 99 MPH fastball shut the door on just seven pitches, inducing a ground ball double play to end it and erase a leadoff single.

Speaking to reporters postgame, manager Torey Lovullo spoke about Ryne Nelson, and the dilemma in front of Lovullo and the coaching staff. Nelson is in the midst of a battle for the fifth starter's spot, with seven qualified MLB pitchers currently healthy in camp.

"It's a very difficult discussion that we're having. I've had this very similar conversation that I had with him in Spring Training as I've had with him the past three years," Lovullo said.

"He can block out the black noise as good as anybody and and go out and attack. And that's maturity and that's confidence. Got a lot of self-confidence. He looked like he could have gone on forever.

"But the secondary stuff is what stands out to me. It's the it's the depth and the angle of his breaking ball that he's really working on and stood out real well today," Lovullo said.

The manager praised Nelson's mentals, and his ability to simply take every situation as it comes and compete in the best way possible.

"Nothing phases him. From the day I met him, he just takes it in stride and he always says the right things. You know, 'I just want the baseball. When you're ready to give it to me, I'll be as ready as I can.' It's just it's a certain level of confidence that he walks around with. One of his best qualities is is his belief in himself and his ability to go on and execute," Lovullo said.

The Diamondbacks will be back in action on Thursday against the Seattle Mariners in Peoria at 6:40 p.m. Arizona time.