Straily pleased with progress in second spring start

PHOENIX -- Dan Straily isn't so much concerned about results as he is progress this spring, so consider his Sunday outing a success.

The young righty, who will likely open the season as Oakland's fifth starter, walked three in 3 1/3 scoreless innings against the White Sox, but he also limited them to two hits and struck out two.

Five days before, he had been tagged for three runs and four hits in two-plus innings in his Cactus League debut.

"I felt a lot more in control, not necessarily of the game, but of my body," Straily said. "I felt more like I was able to focus on what I needed to work on and was able to get some things done today, stuff that doesn't show up in the box score -- throwing a first-pitch curveball for a strike, throwing a two-seamer into a right-hander for a strike instead of just barreling it off the plate, throwing the changeup in the zone. Things like that, that for me, I was very unhappy with last outing and was able to fix in my side work and take into the game today."

Straily was most pleased with his fastball command, which allowed him to collect a few more ground-ball outs than his last time out. As for the walks, he was "just missing," he said, but eliminating them now becomes a priority for his next start.

"That's just part of early on in the season for me," Straily said. "First couple times out, it's going to happen.

"It's frustrating because, more often than not, those guys end up scoring and so I have to get that problem taken care of. You can't go 0-2 on a guy and walk him. You can't walk the leadoff guy in an inning, some of the baseball don'ts that I was doing out there. So maybe once I get back to 2-2, just make sure that pitch is over the plate."