Shelby MIller, Diamondbacks in control vs. Padres

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Miller cruising as D-Backs lead Padres

Shelby Miller had allowed just three hits through seven innings and Yasmany Tomas and Chris Iannetta each had home runs as the Diamondbacks owned an 8-1 lead in the top of the eighth inning on Tuesday night.

Tomas connected for a three-run shot in the fifth inning to blow the game open, giving the Diamondbacks a 7-1 lead. In the fourth, the Diamondbacks scored three times on two walks, two infield singles and an error, an inning in which Padres right-hander Jarred Cosart left the game with a hamstring injury.

Miller was having little trouble against the Padres’ lineup, mixing mid-to-high 90s fastballs along with cutters and curveballs. After two starts in which he lasted just 5 1/3 innings, this was his deepest and most effective outing yet this season.

Miller gets early jump on trip

SAN DIEGO – The Diamondbacks sent right-hander Shelby Miller down to San Diego a little early on Monday night in hopes of getting him a good night’s sleep in advance of his start against the Padres on Tuesday night.

Miller participated in a pregame workout at Dodger Stadium on Monday and left in the afternoon, manager Torey Lovullo said.

“I feel very strongly that, although I want us to travel as a team and move around the country as a team,” Lovullo said, “there are going to be times when I’m going to ask the guys to branch off ahead so they don’t have a rugged travel schedule and have to go to sleep that next morning at 3 or 4 a.m. I feel like a good night’s rest is very important.”

The Padres, who played a night game in Atlanta on Monday night, did the same with their starter, right-hander Jarred Cosart.

Ray effectively wild for D-Backs

Scroll through the pitching leaderboard in the National League and there’s Diamondbacks left-hander Robbie Ray’s name, tied for the lead in strikeouts. Keep going and there he is again, atop the league in walks.

Ray, of course, doesn’t like the fact that strike throwing remains an issue for him at times, as it was for stretches last season. But he is able to take solace in the fact that, through three games, it hasn’t kept him from pitching deep into games.

After going 5 2/3 innings in his first start, he worked 6 2/3 innings his second time out and six more in his third outing, a win against the Dodgers on Monday night. His walks in each game, respectively: three, five, four.

“If I can just limit those walks to like one or two, then I could probably go even deeper,” Ray said. “That’s the next step.”

Ray also has been effective. Not only is he routinely overpowering hitters as the strikeouts attest, he owns an impressive 1.96 ERA.

He said he was able to make a mechanical adjustment in the early innings on Monday night that helped with his fastball command. He just wishes he’d been able to do it more quickly.

“There’s always room for improvement,” he said. “I think it’s going to get better. It’s still early in the season and I’m still working on some things.”

Shift strategy

In each of his first two at-bats on Monday night, David Peralta hit balls to the left side of the infield. The Dodgers were in a shift, leaving only shortstop Corey Seager to the left of second base, and Peralta wound up with an infield hit the first time but bounced out on a nice play by Seager the next time.

Peralta doesn’t sound like he’s going to make a habit trying to beat the shift that way. He said that when he is thinking too much about going the other way, he winds up chasing pitches out of the zone, particularly balls off the plate away.

“I don’t want to get into the bad habit of swinging at bad pitches,” he said. “It’s hard because I’m hitting and I see this huge hole and it’s hard to not think about it. But I don’t want to think too much about it.”

Short hops

• Right-hander Taijuan Walker said his back felt “much better” on Tuesday and that he has no doubt he’ll be ready to make his next scheduled start, set for Friday at Chase Field against the Giants.
• Right-hander Jake Barrett threw a bullpen session on Tuesday and is in a “lull period” in his recovery from spring shoulder problems, Lovullo said. “We want to make sure we’re ramping up these guys to get out of extended spring training,” Lovullo said. “So what we decided to do was as, we would in spring training, ramp these guys up, pull back a little bit and then get them ramped up one more time.” Barrett’s next step has yet to be determined, Lovullo said.

Lineup

1. A.J. Pollock CF

2. David Peralta RF

3. Paul Goldschmidt 1B

4. Jake Lamb 3B

5. Yasmany Tomas LF

6. Brandon Drury 2B

7. Chris Owings SS

8. Chris Iannetta C

9. Shelby Miller P

MONDAY RECAP: Diamondbacks salvage split with comeback vs. Dodgers

Tuesday’s game

Diamondbacks at Padres

When: 7:10 p.m.

Where: Petco Park, San Diego.

Pitchers: Diamondbacks RHP Shelby Miller (1-1, 5.06) vs. Padres RHP Jarred Cosart (0-0, 3.86).

TV/Radio: FSAZ/KMVP-FM (98.7), KHOV-FM (105.1).

Game notes

Miller was unable to stop the bleeding in the fifth inning against the Giants in his most recent start. After giving up a double to opposing pitcher RHP Matt Cain, Miller gave up run-scoring hits to CF Denard Span, RF Hunter Pence and 3B Conor Gillaspie. … Miller has given up three runs in 5 1/3 innings in each of his first two starts. He hasn’t been at his best, but he’s managed to keep the Diamondbacks in the game both times, something that couldn’t be said for the majority of his starts last season. … Cosart’s first appearance came in relief (two runs in two-thirds of an inning), but he started his next time out, tossing four scoreless innings on 70 pitches, allowing five hits and a walk. … He faced the Diamondbacks once last season, giving up one run in 5 2/3 innings with two walks and seven strikeouts. … Cosart, who averages 93.2 mph with his fastball, has used his curveball liberally, throwing it 32.3 percent of the time so far this season.

MLB POWER RANKINGS: Diamondbacks hit road, road hits back

Wednesday: At San Diego, 7:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zack Greinke (1-1, 4.32) vs. Padres RHP Jhoulys Chacin (1-2, 7.80).

Thursday: At San Diego, 6:10 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Patrick Corbin (1-2, 2.81) vs. Padres LHP Clayton Richard (1-2, 3.60).

Friday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Taijuan Walker (2-1, 3.94) vs. Dodgers TBA.

RELATED: Archie Bradley ‘excited’ with way he’s throwing as reliever

Up next

San Diego Padres

Padres update: The Padres entered their series-finale against the Atlanta Braves on Monday with a 5-8 record, and though they’ve been beaten soundly a few times, their other five losses have been by three runs or less, so they’re at least playing competitive games. Not much is expected of them this season, however, the second year of their all-out rebuild. They do have some interesting young players whom they could end up building around, including CF Manuel Margot, who has a .828 OPS and seven extra-base hits, and RF Hunter Renfroe, who has three home runs. 1B Wil Myers is off to a good start, hitting .365 with 10 extra-base hits, and 3B Ryan Schimpf might be hitting just .152 but he has a league-leading 13 walks and has connected for three home runs. The Padres’ pitching staff has struggled, particularly the rotation, which owns a league-worst 4.75 ERA. The bullpen hasn’t been much better, ranking 12th with a 5.21 ERA.

MORE: Study: Chase Field humidor could ‘significantly’ reduce home runs