Taijuan Walker’s bullpen session goes smoothly

D-Backs hitless through six vs. Chase Anderson

Former Diamondbacks pitcher Chase Anderson is shutting down his old team, tossing six scoreless, hitless innings for the Milwaukee Brewers, who have a 5-0 lead after 5 1/2 innings.

The one positive for the Diamondbacks is that Anderson probably won’t be in the game much longer. His pitch count already is at 97. The most pitches he’s thrown this season is 99.

Anderson has walked three batters, including the first two of the game, but the Diamondbacks have hit, at most, only a handful of balls hard.

Anderson, who came to the Brewers as part of the Jean Segura trade in January 2016, has tied his career high with 10 strikeouts.

Bandy double gives Brewers 3-0 lead

Jett Bandy capped a seven-pitch at-bat with the bases loaded in the fourth inning against Zack Greinke by lining a three-run double to left field, giving the Milwaukee Brewers a 3-0 lead over the Diamondbacks through 4 1/2 innings.

The Brewers loaded the bases, getting a softly hit Eric Sogard double that left fielder Yasmany Tomas could not make the play on, then drawing consecutive walks by Jesus Aguilar and Travis Shaw.

Greinke rebounded by striking out Domingo Santana on three pitches, but after Bandy fell behind 0-2, he battled back to work a full count. The first six pitches of the at-bat were all breaking balls, and when Greinke tried to fire a full-count fastball past Bandy, it was lined into left for the double.

The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, are still looking for their first hit against right-hander Chase Anderson, who is exhibiting unusually high velocity through five innings, sitting mostly in the mid-90s. He has walked three and struck out nine.

Focus on framing paying off for Iannetta

Not only has catcher Chris Iannetta contributed for the Diamondbacks at the plate, including on Friday night, when he cracked a game-tying homer in the bottom of the ninth, he’s shown improvement in his receiving skills compared to last year.

When the Diamondbacks signed him in January, they hoped a renewed focus on pitch-framing would pay dividends, and that’s exactly how it’s played out so far.

The club’s internal metrics show improvements across the board in Iannetta’s framing, with a particular jump in pitches at the bottom of the strike zone. Iannetta is also grading well in data available publicly, including at Baseball Prospectus, where he ranks 16th out of 43 catchers with at least 1,000 framing chances. A year ago, Prospectus had him ranked second-to-last in the majors.

“I pay attention to it a lot,” Iannetta said. “I’ve been really staying on top of it. It’s been a big focus to make sure the strikes are being called strikes.”

Iannetta posted good framing numbers in 2015 before falling off last year, which he attributed to a problem with how he held his glove before receiving a pitch.

“I’d start at the bottom of the zone and then as the pitch was in the air I’d kind of relax and raise it up,” he said, demonstrating. “I’d be here (down in the zone) and I’d raise up to relax and then go back down to catch it a little bit. I wouldn’t (bring the ball down with me), but just the illusion of me going down made it look like it was lower than it actually was.”

Though he’s hitting just .235, Iannetta has five homers and two doubles in 68 at-bats, giving him a .485 slugging that’s a big part of his healthy .792 OPS.

“I feel good,” he said. “I’m seeing it OK. Like I said, I’m just working on putting at-bats together and getting in as many good hitters’ counts as I can. I haven’t really been paying much attention to the cumulative stuff and just kind of focusing on the pitcher that day and not giving away an at-bat.”

Bullpen session goes smoothly for D-Backs’ Walker

Diamondbacks right-hander Taijuan Walker threw an event-free bullpen session, putting him on target to throw a simulated game on Monday or Tuesday at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, manager Torey Lovullo said.

“He did just fine,” Lovullo said. “Everything is exactly where it should be. I got a little bit of feedback from him as he headed to the training room and he said he felt good.”

Assuming all goes well then, the Diamondbacks could then bring Walker back from the disabled list for a start next weekend in Miami.

“I think a lot of that could be contingent on how he does in his sim game,” Lovullo said in regard to Walker’s specific return date. “We want him back as soon as possible, but we’ve got to make sure he’s OK.”

Staying fresh

Lovullo said Brandon Drury and David Peralta were getting regular days off on Saturday, adding that he’s trying to be even more proactive in scheduling rest for his players given their current 11-game, three-city road trip.

“We’re in the middle of a long, grinding stretch of games,” Lovullo said, “and I think we have to be careful about how much we put guys in there and give them time off their feet.”

He said “nobody is exempt,” hinting that first baseman Paul Goldschmidt could get a day off himself soon, perhaps Sunday.

Pregame notes

Greinke fell one out shy of a complete game on Monday against the White Sox, giving up just one run in 8 2/3 innings while walking one and striking out 12. He has gone at least 6 2/3 innings in each of his past four starts and at least six innings in seven in a row.

Greinke pitched parts of two seasons with the Brewers, posting a 3.67 ERA in 49 starts. He has a career 3.07 ERA in 167 1/3 innings at Miller Park.

In his three starts at Miller Park since his time with the Brewers, Greinke went 1-2 with only one quality start. 

Anderson, who was drafted by the Diamondbacks in 2009 and pitched for them for parts of two seasons, was traded to the Brewers as part of the Jean Segura deal in January 2016.

He had a 1.12 ERA through his first four starts but has given up 20 runs in 24 2/3 innings (7.30 ERA) over his past five.

Anderson has been getting hit hard by both lefties (.288 average, .851 OPS) and righties (.274, .842).

Saturday’s lineup

1. Gregor Blanco RF

2. Chris Owings 2B

3. Paul Goldschmidt 1B

4. Jake Lamb 3B

5. Yasmany Tomas LF

6. Rey Fuentes CF

7. Nick Ahmed SS

8. Jeff Mathis C

9. Zack Greinke P

Saturday’s game

When: 1:10 p.m.

Where: Miller Park, Milwaukee.

Pitchers: Diamondbacks RHP Zack Greinke (6-2, 2.82) vs. Brewers RHP Chase Anderson (2-1, 4.25).

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

The Diamondbacks’ 4-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in 10 innings on Friday night seems certain to go down as one of the Diamondbacks’ better wins of the season. But given the way this year is unfolding – given the magic elixir they seem to be sprinkling on a near nightly basis – who can say how many better might be in store over the remaining 112 games?

“It’s been fun,” said Diamondbacks catcher Chris Iannetta, whose two-out homer tied the game in the top of the ninth. “It’s the way baseball should be. It’s not always going to happen, but the way we’re playing the game right now is the way you want to play the game. You want to play hard, you want to hustle, you want to pitch and play defense, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Lately, it seems as if no amount of missteps is too many to overcome, including watching their suddenly tired bullpen giving up the tying and go-ahead runs in consecutive innings. It also feels like every close play, every coin-flip moment, keeps going their way, the most important of which on Friday night came on a ball in the dirt in the sixth inning.

Greinke, Counsell texted about Saturday’s start

Craig Counsell has seen Diamondbacks right-hander Zack Greinke pitch well – and pitch well at Miller Park for extended periods – but the Milwaukee Brewers manager gave his former teammate a hard time about that success coming to an end this weekend.

“I offered some suggestions to him on how he might not perform as well here on Saturday night,” Counsell said, referring to a recent text message exchange with Greinke.

Greinke, who has a 2.82 ERA through eight starts and leads the league with 78 strikeouts, has a history of pitching well in Milwaukee. In 27 games (26 starts) at Miller Park, he has a 3.07 ERA with 197 strikeouts in 167 1/3 innings.

The Brewers, however, feature one of the majors’ more potent lineups, averaging 5.2 runs per game, second-best in the NL.

Counsell said he always enjoys talking baseball with Greinke, who has a “different perspective” on things than most people do.

“He usually gives you something you haven’t heard before and a different way to look at things,” said Counsell, who had two stints as a player with the Diamondbacks, with whom he won the World Series in 2001. “That makes you think about things a little differently. I always appreciate that. He’s got very interesting observations about how he sees the game.”

Coming up

Sunday: At Milwaukee, 11:10 a.m., Diamondbacks LHP Patrick Corbin (4-4, 4.40) vs. Brewers RHP Jimmy Nelson (2-3, 4.20).

Monday: At Pittsburgh, 1:05 p.m., Diamondbacks TBA vs. Pirates RHP Trevor Williams (2-3, 5.93).

Tuesday: At Pittsburgh, 4:05 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Robbie Ray (4-3, 3.45) vs. Pirates RHP Ivan Nova (5-3, 2.83).