Right-hander Tyler Clippard did not record an out and exited his relief appearance Friday with a trainer at his side, a troubling development for a pitcher the Diamondbacks had hoped would provide stability to their bullpen.

Clippard experienced right shoulder discomfort, manager Torey Lovullo said, adding that he was unsure if the veteran reliever would be sent for imaging on his arm.

From the beginning, Clippard labored through his outing against the Milwaukee Brewers, giving up a double, single and walk, then throwing a run-scoring wild pitch before serving up a three-run home run.

Lovullo said he could tell Clippard was struggling to execute pitches but didn’t think it was related to an injury. Lovullo said he and pitching coach Matt Herges opted to leave Clippard in the game because they wanted him to get his pitch count into the 20s.

“I didn’t think much about it,” Lovullo said. “I wanted to let him get his work in, but it was clearly a sign that something wasn’t right. He was lacking the consistency of all his pitches and couldn’t really get a feel for where that release point was.”

Clippard, 36, signed a one-year, $2.25 million in February. The Diamondbacks were intrigued by his versatility and durability; the latter is in question after Friday.

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Clippard was sitting the 87-89 mph range with his fastball on March 9 in his first Cactus League outing. His velocity range dropped to 84-87 mph on March 16. On Friday, he was in the low-to-mid 80s, topping at 85 mph, according to a rival scout.

If Clippard starts the season on the injured list, it would create yet another opening in the Diamondbacks’ bullpen. Right-hander Joakim Soria is assured of a job. Not many others are, though right-hander Stefan Crichton and lefty Alex Young likely are well-positioned, as is non-roster invite Chris Devenski, who has logged five scoreless innings in the Cactus League.

Easing concerns

If there were any questions about left-hander Caleb Smith’s rough spring ratcheting up pressure on his rotation spot, Lovullo put those to rest early Friday afternoon, all but calling Smith a lock to be one of the Diamondbacks’ five starters so long as he were healthy.

An hour later, Smith went out and helped ease concerns by turning in a solid, 4 1/3-inning outing against the Brewers. Smith wasn’t perfect, giving up some loud contact and having occasional bouts with control, but he was better than he had been in two of his previous three Cactus League outings.

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“I pretty much go through this every spring,” Smith said, “so I knew that I would come around. I knew that I would figure everything out. I think I told you in the last interview that we did that it’s spring training and there’s still a lot of time to fix it. I felt like I did that today.”

Smith gave up a home run to Kolten Wong to lead off the bottom of the first inning and allowed a hard-hit double to Christian Yelich two batters later, but he escaped the first inning and did not allow another run the rest of the afternoon. He walked four on Sunday against the Brewers but issued just one free pass on Friday.

“It felt good to go out there and do better and have better command of all my pitches,” Smith said.

Smith said his velocity is still something he hopes will tick up as the regular season approaches. Smith has been topping out in the low-90s.

“I would like to be around 93-95 mph,” he said. “It’s still early. Just building up arm strength and everything.”

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Short hops

—Lovullo said right fielder Kole Calhoun will take regular batting practice on Sunday for the first time. “That’s always a good marker to see how you’re feeling,” he said. Calhoun underwent surgery earlier this month to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee and is expected to open the year in the injured list.

—Right-hander Taylor Widener is scheduled to follow Luke Weaver to the mound against the Royals on Saturday.

Brewers 9, Diamondbacks 3

At American Family Fields

At the plate: 1B Christian Walker connected for his fourth home run of the spring, a three-run blast in the first inning. The home runs are an encouraging sign for a slugger who finished last year’s 60-game season with just seven homers. “It builds confidence,” Walker said, “because I’m not going up there thinking, ‘Got to hit the ball in the air. Got to hit a homer.’ I’m trusting some adjustments I made this offseason and trusting that that’s going to be the result.” Walker also had a single to left and stole a base in the third inning. CF Ketel Marte (ankle) returned to the lineup after a two-game absence. He went 0 for 3 with a walk, exiting after 6 1/2 innings. RF Tim Locastro continued to make a case for playing time, reaching base three times and stealing a base. He dropped down a bunt single in the first, doubled to right-center in the second and drew a walk in the seventh.

On the mound: LHP Caleb Smith gave up a pair of hard-hit balls in the first inning on a home run to 2B Kolten Wong and a double to LF Christian Yelich. But Smith allowed little in the way of hard contact after that. “It was just two sliders that were in a bad spot that they hit,” Smith said. “I thought the other ones were pretty decent.” Smith finished with one run allowed on five hits and one walk in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out six. RHP Yoan Lopez showed better velocity than he had in previous outings this spring, hitting 96-97 mph, but he also served up a home run, a solo shot to Brewers LF Billy McKinney, who added another homer off RHP Tyler Clippard in the eighth. LHP Ryan Buchter retired both batters he faced in the fifth. Buchter is in camp on a minor league deal.

Saturday’s game: Diamondbacks RHP Luke Weaver vs. Royals LHP Danny Duffy, 1:10 p.m., Salt River Fields.

Reach Piecoro at (602) 444-8680 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @nickpiecoro.

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