Diamondbacks 8, Padres 4: Greinke pitches 3 scoreless innings
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Zack Greinke pitched three scoreless innings in his second Cactus League outing with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday, working out of a bases-loaded one out jam in the second inning.
"I felt a little better than the first time but a little bit uncomfortable with guys on base," Greinke said. "I don't know if the pitches were that much worse or just the same, I just didn't feel I was in control."
The Diamondbacks defeated the San Diego Padres 8-4, getting 13 hits. Brandon Drury, getting the start at second base, hit his second home run of the spring, a two-run blast that gave him six RBI. He's now hitting .438 in 16 at-bats.
Tyler Wagner, acquired from Milwaukee in the Jean Segura trade, also worked three innings for the D-backs and was credited with the win. He gave up three hits and one run.
Greinke gave up four hits and did not strike out or walk any while throwing 38 pitches -- 24 for strikes.
"Classic Greinke," manager Chip Hale said. "He got his work in, he's feeling good after these starts, so it's all positive.
"He's a prefectionlist. Every time out he's working on stuff that he wants to work on. Sometimes it's not hitter to hitter so much that he's worried about as executing certain parts of his game plan that he wants to work on. It can get you in trouble some times, but he was able to pitch out of it."
"He's a smart guy, and being a perfectionist as he is, he's always going to find something to improve on."
Hale said Jean Segura, hitting .692 through the first week of games, was held out for precautionary reasons with a sore knee as the result of sliding into second base on Tuesday in Peoria. Hale said he would also be held out of Thursday's game.
"The ground over at Peoria was really hard, and he just aggravated the outside of the knee a little bit," Hale said. "Nothing major, just a little bit sore."
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Yasmany Tomas remains out of the lineup with a knee issue, but Hale said he's been taking batting practice.
While Tomas has been on the mend, Socrates Brito has continued to impress -- opening the door to some competition for the left field spot. Brito is hitting .583 (7 for 12) in the early goig.
"Brito has played outstanding," Hale said. There's no doubt there's competition there, and he's in it. Yasmany's got to get healthy and take care of that first."
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Hale said the competition for middle infield spots has been all he expected and more. Segura, Nick Ahmed and Chris Owings are the main contenders -- with Gosselin and Brandon Drury also in the mix.
"It's already really tough," he said. "Everybody's playing so well, they're all swinging the bats.
"That's what happens when you get into competition like this, and that's why you want competition. For some reason, that's how athletes perform at their best."
