Miller sets right tone for D-backs' pitchers

March 10th, 2016

TEMPE, Ariz. -- D-backs right-hander Shelby Miller pitched three innings of one-run ball, and Angels lefty Andrew Heaney navigated through two scoreless frames in Arizona's 5-3 win at Tempe Diablo Stadium on Thursday.
Angels star Mike Trout, who went 1-for-3 and closed the day with a .538 Cactus League average, drove in the game's first run with an RBI single in the first inning. Yunel Escobar, expected to be the Angels' leadoff hitter, went 2-for-3 with a fifth-inning RBI single and is now batting .353. Albert Pujols started at designated hitter and lined a single to left-center field. Daniel Nava went 1-for-2 with his third double, a walk and a run scored, lifting his average to .600.

Jason Bourgeois, competing for a reserve outfield spot, put the D-backs on the board and gave them a 3-2 lead with a three-run homer off lefty reliever Lucas Luetge. Kyle Kubitza tied the game in the seventh with a sacrifice fly, but the D-backs came right back with a couple of runs in the eighth.

Miller gave up four hits and a walk and said afterward that he "felt good."
Heaney, making his first Cactus League start after being scratched five days earlier because of an illness, gave up just two hits and a walk, striking out one. Angels closer Huston Street, previously slowed by a tight left calf, worked around two hits and a walk to pitch a scoreless third inning in his Cactus League debut.
Gabriel Guerrero, the D-backs' No. 11 prospect and the nephew of former Angels star Vladimir Guerrero, in the eighth ripped a one-out single to left field off bullpen hopeful Rob Rasmussen. The next batter, former Angels outfield prospect Zach Borenstein, hit a line drive to right-center field that resulted in an RBI triple after Quintin Berry's diving attempt came up short. Borenstein then scored on a sac fly by Todd Glaesmann.

Outfield prospect Peter O'Brien, ranked ninth in Arizona's system by MLB.com, went 2-for-3 and scored a run. Evan Marshall, coming back from the skull fracture he sustained in the Minor Leagues last August, pitched two innings and allowed just one unearned run. He has yet to allow an earned run in four Cactus League frames.

Up next for the D-backs: Left-hander Patrick Corbin will make his second Cactus League start for the D-backs at 1:05 p.m. PT on Friday, facing the Royals in Surprise, Ariz. Corbin threw a pair of scoreless innings in his first outing, last weekend. Follow every pitch live on Gameday.
Up next for the Angels:Nick Tropeano will make his second start of the spring on Friday, when the Angels visit the Dodgers at Camelback Ranch in a game airing at 12:05 p.m. PT on MLB.TV. Tropeano entered camp looking like a long-shot candidate to crack the rotation, but he has a legitimate chance now, with Tyler Skaggs (easing his way back from Tommy John surgery) and C.J. Wilson (recovering from a brief bout with left shoulder tendinitis) projected to start the season on the disabled list.