GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Bronson Arroyo, the 40-year-old right-hander in a crowded mix fighting for a rotation spot with the Reds, continued to make his case in Thursday's 4-2 loss to the White Sox. If he finishes camp healthy, the non-roster invitee, who hasn't pitched in the Majors the last two seasons, is expected to be among the five starters solidified to start the season.
"He looked like regular Bronson," manager Bryan Price said. "It's hard to tell, to think, this is a guy that's missed so much time with elbow and shoulder surgeries. It just looked like we have Bronson Arroyo back again. That warms my heart, to be terribly honest. It makes me feel a lot better about the potential for him to be back in the big leagues this year."
Arroyo is admittedly playing with caution this late in camp, and said he pitched inside all afternoon with the exception of one curveball to Todd Frazier in a fourth-inning at-bat that drew a strikeout, one of two he notched Thursday. The right-hander was pegged in the jaw in his last outing Saturday by a throw from catcher Devin Mesoraco.
"If you watch a tape of a game, basically every ball that comes back and drills a pitcher with good velocity is going to be usually something stiff away," Arroyo said, "I'm not on a guaranteed deal either. If I got hit in one of these last two starts, break a couple fingers, it probably ends my career."
With limited velocity, Arroyo induced consistent soft contact -- a two-run homer in the fourth inning to Nicky Delmonico notwithstanding. Arroyo gave up the deep fly as his pitch count approached 60, and one batter before his scheduled departure.
He was aided by defense most of the afternoon, but expectedly, as Arroyo has never been a high-strikeout pitcher over his 15-year career. Only twice has he averaged more than seven strikeouts per nine innings, most recently in 2008.
"That's his game," Price said. "I think the thing that I've realized over the years is that he doesn't pitch for the strikeout until he needs a strikeout, so he can pitch games like this, where his outs come relatively quickly.
"The rest of the time, I think he was perfectly satisfied with balls in play on the ground or soft fly balls, and he got a lot of those. But when he needed a strikeout, he went after it, and was able to get it in that situation. That tells me that he's a lot closer to being the Bronson that we know than the Bronson that's been injured for the last two and a half years."
The Reds hope Arroyo, who played for Cincinnati from 2006-13 but has been marred by injuries since, can be a reliable innings eater. Price admires his veteran presence, particularly with Homer Bailey and Anthony DeSclafani out with injuries, but would like to continue to see long-term durability. Only Scott Feldman and Brandon Finnegan have been vested to the rotation, with Arroyo and six others -- Tim Adleman, Rookie Davis, Sal Romano, Amir Garrett, Cody Reed, Robert Stephenson -- competing for the remaining three slots.