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Collmenter a commodity out of bullpen

PHOENIX -- D-backs right-hander Josh Collmenter seemed to be the perfect choice to start in place of Tyler Skaggs on Tuesday night, but manager Kirk Gibson felt he was too valuable in his current role.

Collmenter has been invaluable as the long man out of the bullpen, as three times this year he has thrown three or more innings.

On April 3, Collmenter threw five innings of relief in a 16-inning D-backs win, saving the bullpen from being worn out.

On June 4, Collmenter threw four innings of relief against the Cardinals, as the D-backs won in 14 innings.

"I always know that at any point I could go in the game, so I'm always ready from the get-go," Collmenter said. "I always make sure I'm ready from pitch one just in case something freak happens, something crazy."

A lot of times if a pitcher has not thrown multiple innings he will need time to build up his pitch count before he can throw four or five innings.

Not Collmenter.

"I'm not sure what that's from," he said. "I don't know if it's just the way my arm is, or how I throw if that feeds into it. But I've heard from other guys that they couldn't do that, that they'd have to work into that. I think it's something special that I'm able to do that. I just like to stay prepared every day, whether it's conditioning or lifting, or just making sure my arm is ready to go, because that's the one thing about the bullpen, you can throw any day."

Steve Gilbert is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Inside the D-backs, and follow him on Twitter @SteveGilbertMLB.
Read More: Arizona Diamondbacks, Josh Collmenter