Robbie Ray on Sunday found both tempo and success.
He threw seven-plus scoreless innings, while Peter O’Brien homered to help the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Miami Marlins 6-0.
Ray (3-5) held Miami to three hits and a walk over 7-2/3 innings and struck out six. Ray faced only two batters over the minimum and did not allow a Miami runner into scoring position.
Photo: AFP
The outing came on the heels of Ray’s previous start, where he unraveled with runners on base and lasted only 4-2/3 innings against the Tampa Bay Rays.
“I felt that I accomplished what I was trying to do, get easy outs and stay down in the zone,” Ray said. “I’m still learning who I am as a pitcher. It’s good to get this one under my belt.”
Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale and pitching coach Mike Butcher challenged Ray after his prior start, letting him know throwing five or less innings was not acceptable.
“He threw the ball very well, had good tempo and really controlled himself at times,” Hale said. “He wasn’t rushing. He’s a young pitcher. He is just really, really learning and learning on the job.”
Paul Goldschmidt doubled, singled, scored twice and drove in a run for the Diamondbacks, who won the final two games of the three-game series.
The shutout was Arizona’s fifth of the season and first against the Marlins since Aug. 27, 2012, at Chase Field in Phoenix.
Marlins starter Adam Conley (3-4) went five innings, allowing six runs on 11 hits with a walk and a strikeout.
Conley was behind in a hurry against the Diamondbacks.
Jean Segura singled, went to second when Goldschmidt reached on catcher’s interference, moved to third on a walk to Wellington Castillo and scored on a high pop up caught by second baseman Derek Dietrich in shallow right-center.
O’Brien then made it 4-0 with his homer over the Diamondbacks’ left-field bullpen, his first of the year and second of his career.
“If you’re standing around in batting practice, you can close your eyes and know it’s him,” Hale said.
The Diamondbacks’ four runs in the opening inning were their most since a four-run first on Sept. 11 last year against the Los Angeles Dodgers, also managed by Don Mattingly.
“We talked about the first inning before,” Mattingly said. “For starting pitchers that is always a dangerous inning. Today it was really dangerous for us. They get the four early and we don’t respond the rest of the day.”
Arizona extended the lead to 5-0 in the second when Goldschmidt doubled down the left-field line and scored on a single by Castillo. Goldschmidt drove in a run in the fourth with a single, scoring Segura to put the Diamondbacks ahead 6-0.
“It seems like the whole day I was somewhere between missing barrels and really solid contact,” Conley said. “I think 11 hits, eight of them were on the ground. Nobody was really hitting the ball hard. If my stuff was better, they swing and miss pitches. If my stuff was worse they would square it up.”
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