Diamondbacks 3, Reds 0: Last impressions

Cactus League 16-14-2

If the front office were second-guessing their decision to not include Archie Bradley in the rotation, his start today should have done just that. Archie Bradley carried his no-hit bid into the 6th inning but settled for only the 1 hit as he finished the 6th.

Archie did run into trouble in the 4th, as a leadoff walk to Brandon Phillips, a passed ball and another walk to Todd Frazier gave the Reds a chance to break through against the young righty. But Archie settled down after that, quickly retiring Marlon Byrd on a fly out to Evan Marzilli in right field and induced a Devin Mesoraco double play to escape trouble. After another leadoff walk in the 5th, Archie worked around trouble and kept the Reds at bay before giving up a 2-out single to Todd Frazier that was quickly forgotten as Marlon Byrd flew out to right field to end the inning. The final line for our young starter was 6 IP, 3 BB's, 2 K's and 0 R. Quite the line after what transpired last year.

As much as the D-backs were shutting out the Reds early on, Jhonny Cueto was doing the same. Through 3 innings, only two D-backs reached base as Yasmany Tomas reached on an error in the 2nd and Ender Inciarte walked in the 3rd. But things unraveled for Cueto in the 4th, as David Peralta led things off with a walk, followed by back to back walks from Aaron Hill and Jake Lamb, bringing up Yasmany Tomas with the bases loaded and nobody out. And boy did he deliver, with a double in the right field gap to bring home all 3 runs. Luckily for the D-backs, that's all they'd need, as the only other player to reach base was David Peralta and Jake Lamb with a walk and single respectively.

Robbie Ray came in relief for Archie Bradley and was pretty good himself despite a rocky opening inning. He worked around a leadoff single and walk to consecutive players but then got out of the jam with a strike out, pop out and fly ball to center field. With the 7th taken care of, Ray cruised allowing just a walk in the 9th that was mopped up nicely by a double play. All-in-all a very solid performance for Robbie Ray after a couple disastrous starts in a row. He finished with 3 IP, 2 BB's, 3 K's and 0 R to support the 2-hit shutout by our youngsters.

In other D-backs news, Josh Collmenter gave up his 1st earned run of the Cactus League in a minor league game. :(

Josh Collmenter's line from this morning: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K. He and his beard look ready for #OpeningDay. pic.twitter.com/JM5hY2b4Nd

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) April 1, 2015

The Diamondbacks head home to Salt River Field tomorrow for a game with the White Sox at 12:10 p.m. Rubby de la Rosa will get the start facing Jose Quintana.