Dbacks Notes

Puk walked one and struck out one over a scoreless inning in Monday’s split-squad game against the Angels.

Arizona had its top two closer candidates working in separate split-squad games Monday. Both Puk and Justin Martinez worked scoreless innings, and both have pitched worthy of being the team’s primary closer to start the regular season. Puk owns a 1.50 ERA with three walks and nine strikeouts over six Cactus League innings. Martinez has the same number of walks and strikeouts over the same number of frames, but a 4.50 ERA thanks to one bad outing. Kevin Ginkel (1.69 ERA) could also factor into the closing decision. Settling on a closer is one of the items on manager Torey Lovullo’s to-do list in the final week of spring training.

Martinez struck out two over one inning in Monday’s Cactus League game against the Royals.

Other than one ugly outing, Martinez has had a strong spring. One of the final questions remaining for the team in spring training is who will be the Diamondbacks‘ primary closer. Martinez has allowed three runs (all in one outing) on three hits and three walks while striking out nine over six Cactus League innings. His primary competition for the job is A.J. Puk (1.50 ERA, six innings), with Kevin Ginkel (1.69 ERA, 5.1 innings) also in consideration.

Nelson allowed nine runs (eight earned) on 11 hits while striking out one over three-plus innings in Monday’s Cactus League start against Kansas City.

Nelson’s uneventful spring blew up in his fourth spring outing (third start). He was responsible for runs in all innings pitched and was chased after giving up four consecutive hits to lead off the fourth. The Royals were jumping on Nelson early in counts — the right-hander threw just 55 pitches despite facing 19 batters. Nelson, who was a rotation regular in 2024, is competing for the fifth spot this spring.

Kelly allowed three runs on six hits while striking out four over 2.2 innings in Monday’s spring start against the Angels.

Kelly was tagged for all three runs in the second inning of his fourth Cactus League start. It was an efficient outing, as Kelly required 66 pitches to get those eight outs. He hinted to Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports that the high pitch count was partially due to a pitcher using spring contests to test out pitches he might not normally throw in certain situations during the regular season. Kelly worked on his slider Monday, throwing it 24 percent of the time. “I think that was one of the things I walked away with today, with how good it’s been in spring,” Kelly said. It’s a pitch the right-hander hasn’t used much during his career and only started introducing the last few seasons.

Grichuk is dealing with left ankle soreness following Monday’s 11-5 loss to the Angels, Alex Weiner of ArizonaSports.com reports.

Grichuk went 1-for-2 with an RBI and a run scored in the contest, but apparently left the game a little worse for wear. Manager Torey Lovullo said that the outfielder’s injury is “nothing alarming” and Grichuk isn’t expected to miss any time. Grichuk can be considered day-to-day for the time being, but his status for Opening Day doesn’t appear to be in question.