Tommy Henry Finds His Groove Against the Rangers
With the competition heating up for the final starting rotation spot, left-hander Tommy Henry needed to have a quality start against the Texas Rangers. The 25-year-old did just that, holding the Rangers scoreless for four innings on three hits, no walks, and three strikeouts on 56 pitches in a 2-0 win.
The key for Henry was his ability to mix things up to exploit an aggressive lineup. Facing a lineup with six right-handed hitters and a switch hitter, Henry mixed in 21 fastballs, 13 curveballs, 11 changeups, and seven sliders to keep opposing hitters honest. That resulted in the left-hander inducing seven groundouts and only two balls hit harder than 100 MPH.
"I think more so today, the command of it was key" said Henry when asked about how he used his off-speed stuff. "Made some different cues during this week, in order to prepare for this next outing. Just with like arm pack, that just felt like had my timing, pretty dialed in dialed in from all four [pitches]."
With confidence in his secondary stuff, Henry was able to land them for strikes to get back in the count and prevent hitters from keying in on his fastball, which was 90-93 MPH. So far this spring, he's been placing more of an emphasis on using his curveball for both called and swinging strikes. It showed up in his outing, as that was his most utilized secondary pitch.
With how well Drey Jameson and Brandon Pfaadt have pitched this spring, Henry was in danger of falling behind in the competition. In his first two appearances in the spring, Henry had allowed seven runs in 4.1 innings against the San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners.
The bullpen picked up right where Henry left off, with five relievers combining for nine strikeouts and allowing just four hits and one walk in the final five innings. Four of them averaged at least 96 MPH today, something that was lacking in the 2022 bullpen.
Miguel Castro came on in the fifth. After allowing a leadoff single on a soft liner, Castro got a strikeout and a 5-4-3 double play to close out the inning.
Scott McGough pitched the sixth inning. Facing the top four hitters in the Rangers lineup, McGough recorded three strikeouts and one walk in the inning. He mixed his fastball and splitter equally, with nine splitters and eight 4-seamers of his 18 pitches.
Corbin Martin came on in the seventh. After allowing a leadoff single, Martin picked off the runner at first and struck out the next two hitters. In the eighth inning, he faced the first two hitters, giving up a double and coming back to strike out his final hitter. His 4-seam fastball was hitting 93-98 MPH and was blowing it past the Rangers hitters, with four whiffs out of 17 pitches.
Justin Martinez finished off the eighth inning by retiring the two hitters he faced on a comebacker and a fly ball to right, stranding the runner Martin left on. Martinez's fastball was hitting triple digits, at 101-102 MPH.
Carlos Vargas closed the game out in the ninth, pitching around a one-out single with a pair of strikeouts and a lineout to first. Vargas was 98-101 with two different fastballs and his slider was untouchable when thrown near the zone.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. continues his solid spring, getting a pair of hits and drove in a run.
Gabriel Moreno launched his second home run of the spring with a long drive to straightaway center. The ball was hit at 109 MPH and traveled 448 feet.
The Diamondbacks will be off tomorrow, but No. 2 prospect Brandon Pfaadt will get the start Friday against the Cincinnati Reds tomorrow in Goodyear, with first pitch coming at 6:05PM MST.
Updates
Madison Bumgarner will pitch in a B game against the Chicago Cubs at Salt River Fields on Friday.
