Diamondbacks Blown Out in Ugly Loss to White Sox

The Arizona Diamondbacks were blanked by a score of 6-0 by the Chicago White Sox on Friday, playing at Salt River Fields as part of their split-squad slate. The D-backs' pitching set them up with an early deficit, and the offense struggled to come away with the big hit.

Right-hander and recently-crowned top pitching prospect Daniel Eagen made his first official start of spring training, and it was mostly effective. However, some poor relief pitching and defense put a bit of a blemish on Eagen's otherwise-successful day.

Arizona Diamondbacks' Daniel Eagen Makes First Cactus League Start

Arizona's No. 7 prospect had an excellent Cactus League debut, pitching two dominant ininngs of relief to earn a save against the Seattle Mariners. In his first start, he had to work out of some traffic, but still looked like a promising prospect.

Eagen made it through 1.2 innings, walking two and striking out three. He did not allow a base hit, but a throwing error by third baseman Tim Tawa forced him to leave the second inning with two runners on.

Right-hander Landon Sims promptly surrendered a three-run blast, handing Eagen the eventual loss. Both runs charged to Eagen were unearned as a result of the error, however.

Eagen's fastball averaged just 92.8 MPH, down a bit from the 95-plus he displayed against Seattle. But his location was solid and he maintained his +18 Induced Vertical Break. He got eight whiffs on 21 swings.

After Sims' homer, right-hander Joe Ross doubled Chicago's score, giving up three runs over just 0.2 innings. He, too, gave up a three-run homer.

The latter end of Arizona's bullpen was effective, however. Right-hander Taylor Clarke threw a scoreless inning. Righty Andrew Hoffmann punched out three in a scoreless frame of his own. Flamethrower Juan Morillo got three outs on 16 pitches, and recent acquisition Grant Holman worked out of a leadoff walk with a double play and a groundout.

Arizona Diamondbacks' Offense Blanked by White Sox

The D-backs did not fare well offensively. They only managed to collect four base hits and two walks on the day, and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, stranding all six of those baserunners.

Infield prospect Tommy Troy had one of those base hits, as did first baseman Luken Baker, DH Ivan Melendez and outfielder Angel Ortiz. Ortiz's double in the second inning was the only extra-base hit of the day for the D-backs.