There were a lot of questions coming in to Tuesday's start against the Milwaukee Brewers for Josh Collmenter. While his manager, Kirk Gibson, had not said anything specifically, the play of Pat Corbin and Collmenter's own spring struggles were fueling the idea that he might lose his spot to Corbin in the rotation.
However, against a Milwaukee team that he had great success in the regular season in 2011, he was again solid. He pitched three innings without allowing a hit, and gave up one unearned run. 34 of his 48 pitches were for strikes and he only saw three three-ball counts, getting two strikes on almost every hitter.
The one run he gave up was the result of a hit batsman, an error but Paul Goldschmidt, a walk and then a run-scoring groundout.
However, despite Collmenter's play, it appears that Tuesday's performance was not going to be the deciding factor in whether he held his place in the rotation. Said Gibson before the game, "I'd like to see him throw the ball better, but if he doesn't it doesn't change anything."
Tyler Skaggs came in after Collmenter left and allowed a two-run homer to Alex Gonzalez in the fourth. He also got himself a base hit in his only plate appearance. Skaggs struggled in the top of the sixth as he loaded the bases to start the inning. However, he came away unscathed after a foul pop and an inning-ending double play.
Arizona got on the board in the fourth inning on an RBI groundout by Miguel Montero.
Arizona rallied in the eighth for four runs as Gerardo Parra, A.J. Pollock and Cody Ransom each hit singles to start the inning. On what could have been a double play, the shortstop slipped and fell for an error to load the bases. Evan Frey then cleared the bases with a triple to give the D-backs a 5-3 lead.
Joe Paterson allowed a pair of baserunners and gave way to J.J. Putz with two outs. Putz got the final out for the save, his second of the spring.
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