Reds 2, Diamondbacks 1 - Patrick Corbin Throws Six Scoreless Innings

Patrick Corbin easily retired the first two Reds in the 1st inning, but then walked Joey Votto and gave up a single to Ryan Ludwick. A deep fly ball by Jay Bruce ended up harmlessly in the glove of Jason Kubel for the third out. Corbin did not allow another hit for eight more batters, until a double in the 4th inning, which was harmless after a Bruce strikeout and Frazier groundout.

The Diamondbacks got their first hit in the second inning, when Miguel Montero laced it to right-center to lead off. But he was later tagged out a snazzy defensive play started by Votto to end the inning. AJ Pollock beat out an infield single (slash error by 3B Todd Frazier), in the 3rd, but he was erased on a double play in another scoreless inning.

Martin Prado singled in 4th, and when Montero singled down the first base line, this time Votto missed it and the ball rolled to right and Prado advanced to third. But, Paul Goldschmidt popped a pitch sky high for the third out to end the threat.

Jason Kubel finally got somebody on the board - luckily, us! - with a solo home run to right in the 5th inning. It was just Kubel's second home run of the spring. Cliff Pennington followed that up with a single, and Corbin successfully bunted him over to second. But Gerardo Parra swung on the first pitch of his at-bat and ground out right to Votto.

At around 90 pitches, Corbin went out for the 6th inning, and needed only six pitches to get through the frame. Through his six innings of work tonight, he allowed just two hits and two walks, while striking out seven. Corbin seemed to locate his pitches well, they had good movement (his strikeouts included at least one horrible swing), and Montero called a good selection behind the plate. It was a very solid outing for the youngster.

Going into the 7th meant wholesale changes for the Diamondbacks - all eight fielders were different, and there was a new pitcher on the mound, Brad Ziegler. Ziegler allowed a single to the first batter he faced, Felix Perez. He would've gotten a double-play ball from Jack Hannahan, but Perez had been running and was safe at second. Another ground ball moved Perez to third, and with two out, pinch-hitter Henry Rodriguez singled to score Perez and tie the game up at 1-1.

Lefty Tony Sipp pitched a clean 8th inning for Arizona, but the Reds scored again in the 9th, off of Joe Paterson. Tony Campana took a horrible angle on a hit by Perez, and it ended up at the left-center wall, making it a triple for Perez. He scored on a grounder that shortstop Nick Ahmed thought about throwing to home to try for the out, but he double-clutched and got the safe out at first, and the Reds took a 2-1 lead.

Tuffy Gosewisch and Eric Hinske were out quickly, before Tony Campana walked and stole second base. But Alfredo Marte hit one right to the pitcher, and the Diamondbacks lost to the Reds in this second-to-last Spring Training game.

A small but steady GDT, with 14 people about for various stages of this one: Bryan J. Boltik, Clefo, EzioExManAZ, GuruB, Jim McLennan, Paper Clip, asteroid, azshadowwalker, blank_38, jmh1982, since_98, snakecharmer, soco, and txzona. soco led all commenters, followed closely by Ezio and Clefo.

Come back tomorrow afternoon when Wade Miley takes the hill, followed by Corbin's competition Randall Delgado. What do you think - do you think Delgado has a chance, or did Corbin just lock up his spot on the team?