Closer candidate Bedrosian returns to mound

March 9th, 2017

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Right-hander made his spring debut on Thursday, pitching one scoreless inning in the Angels' 5-4 win over the Indians at Goodyear Ballpark.
Bedrosian, who had been slowed by an adductor issue early in camp, entered the game in the fifth and allowed one hit while walking one and striking out two.
"I feel really good today, physically," Bedrosian said. "There's a couple things you have to clean up, knock off a little rust, but physically, everything feels really good."
Bedrosian struck out swinging to start the inning before surrendering a single to left field to . He fanned the next batter, , but then walked to bring up with runners on first and second and two outs. Bedrosian subsequently coaxed a flyout to center field from Gomes to escape the frame unscathed.
"Cam looks like he never skipped a beat," manager Mike Scioscia said.
The outing marked Bedrosian's first game action since undergoing season-ending surgery to remove a blood clot in his right arm in September. The procedure cut short a breakout campaign for Bedrosian, who posted a minuscule 1.12 ERA over 40 1/3 innings with a 1.091 WHIP and 51 strikeouts.

Bedrosian called the blood clot a "freak thing" and said he doesn't expect to change anything to prevent a similar issue from cropping up in the future.
The 25-year-old reliever is one of the primary candidates to seize the Angels' closer job this spring, along with veteran right-hander . The Angels had expected to also fight for the role, but Street sustained a right lat strain last week and is expected to miss three to four weeks, putting his Opening Day availability in doubt.
"Honestly, I'm trying not to let it get me too excited," Bedrosian said of the closer competition. "Especially coming off of an injury like the one I had, I just really want to make sure that everything is kind of locked in. My main focus right now is really getting everything in sync and go from there."
Bailey also worked one scoreless inning against the Indians, walking one and striking out one in the sixth.
"He got away with some pitches today, but his velocity was good," Scioscia said. "Everything was good, except he was missing up a little bit. That's going to take some repetition."