Diamondbacks 7, Indians 5: No reservations about Miller

Record 20-4-2. Change on 2015: +6.

Shelby Miller looks ready for Opening Day too, working quickly and efficiently against the Indians at Salt River Fields this afternoon. His 6.2 innings of work required only 88 pitches, with just three hits and a walk allowed, striking out four batters. Helped by Miller's nifty glovework (below), Cleveland didn't get a runner past first-base until a solo-home run, leading off the top of the sixth inning, also ended Miller's shutout. That tied the game at one, but Arizona scored three in the bottom half to retake the lead, giving Miller the win, as he struck out Will Venable and Robbie Grossman to open the seventh, and was then lifted after a thoroughly satisfactory afternoon's work.

Andrew Chafin got the final out there, after a hit, and Daniel Hudson gave up a couple of hits of his own, but recovered to post a zero in the eighth. Evan Marshall, on the other hand, was not so lucky, and his pristine ERA, which had lasted through seven spring innings, evaporated in a welter of four hits, most painfully a three-run homer that left Salt River Fields in a hurry. A triple and groundout followed, leaving Marshall's spring line looking considerably more pedestrian, with a 4.50 ERA, though his peripherals still look decent, with a 6:1 K:BB ratio over eight innings, and seven hits allowed.

Fortunately, the offense delivered, as they have done consistently this spring, though it took them a bit of time to solve Corey Kluber. They had just one run to show through their first five inning, on Jake Lamb's third home-run of the season, but finally figured it out in the sixth, scoring three on a Welington Castillo sacrifice fly, and two-run single by Lamb. Brandon Drury made it 5-1 in the seventh when his single scored Nick Ahmed, and another tally came home later that inning, on an Indians' error. Chris Herrmann completed the scoring, driving home Phil Gosselin with a double in the eighth, before Marshall made it, ah, "interesting."

Fifteen hits in total for the D-backs, led by three from Drury, with two apiece for Socrates Brito, David Peralta, Lamb and Ahmed. Brito did blot his copybook, however, by being caught stealing not once, but twice. and there was also an error by - and I'm finding this difficult to believe - Paul Goldschmidt. Shurely shome mistake... Anyway, that was the twentieth win of the Diamondbacks' spring. Not bad: not bad at all. Tomorrow, it's over to somewhat scary Maryvale, and a 1:05pm contest gainst the Milwaukee Brewers. Patrick Corbin will make his penultimate start of the pre-season there.