SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Blaze Alexander had a double and single in his two at-bats, Tommy Henry tallied three strikeouts in two innings, but the Arizona Diamondbacks lost 3-0 to the Colorado Rockies in both teams' spring training openers Friday afternoon.
The Rockies (1-0) opened the scoring in the bottom of the fourth inning with a solo home run from Elehuris Montero. Diamondbacks reliever Chris Rodriguez located a 96 miles-per-hour sinker low and inside, but Colorado's catcher was still able to pull the pitch 449 feet over the left-field wall.
Colorado added the game's other two runs in the fifth inning with an RBI single from Drew Romo and RBI double in the seventh from Jordan Beck.
Arizona will play again Saturday against Colorado, which will be using a split-squad. First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m.
The Diamondbacks (0-1) on Friday penciled in starting infielders Gabriel Moreno, Christian Walker, Ketel Marte, Geraldo Perdomo and Eugenio Suarez, who went 2-10 combined at the plate. Marte and Walker recorded singles.
Arizona plans to showcase starting outfielders Corbin Carroll, Alek Thomas and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on Saturday.
Josh Green, Brandon Hughes and Ricky Karcher joined Henry in throwing scoreless outings. Konnor Pilkington and Dakota Chalmers each gave up one run along with Rodriguez.
Eduardo Rodriguez was initially scheduled to start the Diamondbacks spring opener, but the team announced Thursday that Henry, who is vying for the fifth spot in the starting rotation, would be on the mound instead.
"I had a little bit of pregame jitters, which felt good. That's always fun," Henry said. "Small sample size but I felt like the misses were small."
Henry is entering his third year in the major leagues. The 26-year-old lefthander started in 16 games for the Diamondbacks last season, which was cut short personally for him in July with left elbow inflammation.
"I felt good, I felt efficient, and I put more of the stress in the big muscles in my shoulder rather than my elbow," Henry said. "There's still some areas that I need to tune up. I was glad that the stuff felt good, and glad that, for the most part, I was consistent, and I was pretty happy with how the stuff was coming out."
Ryne Nelson, who is also in the mix for the last available rotation start, will take the ball first for Arizona on Saturday.
Arizona sports
The city of Phoenix is home to five major professional sports league teams; The NFL's Arizona Cardinals, NBA's Phoenix Suns, WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks and NHL's Arizona Coyotes.
The Cardinals have made State Farm Stadium in Glendale their home turf and the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix is home to both the Suns and the Mercury. The Indoor Football League’s Arizona Rattlers play at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale. The Coyotes play at Mullett Arena on ASU's Tempe campus.
Phoenix also has a soccer team with the USL's Phoenix Rising FC, who play at Phoenix Rising FC Stadium in Phoenix.
The Valley hosts multiple major sporting events on a yearly basis, including college football's Fiesta Bowl and Guaranteed Rate Bowl; the PGA Tour’s highest-attended event, the WM Phoenix Open; NASCAR events each spring and fall, including Championship Weekend in November; and Cactus League Spring Training for 15 Major League Baseball franchises.
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