Corbin could return Saturday to face Rockies

PHOENIX -- D-backs starter Patrick Corbin may return from the disabled list to start Saturday's game against the Rockies and will no longer be pitching his previously scheduled rehab game on Thursday.

D-backs manager Chip Hale said the club feels Corbin, who underwent Tommy John surgery, may be ready now to pitch in the Majors for the first time since 2013. If they opt instead to call up a starter from the Minors or use Josh Collmenter for a spot start, then Corbin will pitch once more for a Minor League affiliate on Saturday.

"We all feel like he's ready, but we just want to make sure over these next few days that he feels the way he should feel, and that's the way we want to go as a group," Hale said. "Between the training staff and front office and the coaching staff, he's ready to pitch, we're just not 100 percent sure if we don't want him to go out."

Corbin made four rehab starts between Class A Advanced Visalia and Double-A Mobile. He pitched six innings and threw 79 pitches in his most recent outing for Mobile last Friday.

The original plan for Corbin's week was for him to make one final rehab appearance for Triple-A Reno on Thursday before his return to the Majors in one of the D-backs' two games against Texas next week.

Now, if the D-backs decide they don't want Corbin to pitch Saturday and do in fact send him on one more rehab outing, the left-hander won't make his big league return until next weekend during the series against the Mets in New York.

"We know physically he can handle it, pitching here," Hale said. "It's just going to be probably a lighter load. We're just going to keep discussing it until we really have to make that final decision."