PHOENIX — Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo announced right-hander Humberto Castellanos will make his second consecutive start on Saturday against the New York Mets at Chase Field.
Saturday’s starter for the D-backs was to-be-decided until Lovullo’s announcement.
“We were just doing our due diligence and trying to figure out who and what situation we put ourselves in to win a baseball game,” Lovullo said before his team faced the Mets for a series-opener on Friday.
“(Castellanos) is throwing the ball well for us. We know what he’s able to do. He can land pitches in all different areas, so we’re really looking forward to watching him go to work.”
Castellanos’ last start came Sunday in New York, as the right-hander went four scoreless innings and only allowed one hit while striking out one and walking three. Unfortunately for the Diamondbacks, the Mets managed to tag Arizona’s bullpen for five runs en route to a 5-0 win.
However, Lovullo did not commit to Castellanos holding a place in the rotation.
“No, I wouldn’t say that,” Lovullo said when asked if Castellanos was going to be a permanent part of the rotation. “But we want to challenge everybody to go out there and continue to be the best versions of themselves and certainly we feel (Castellanos) is ready for this.”
Other than his start last Sunday, Castellanos has appeared twice out of the bullpen for the Diamondbacks this season. In those two outings, he threw for a combined 3.0 innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits and one walk while striking out two.
Lovullo said most of the team’s starters have now been stretched out to the 85-95 pitch mark, while some are over 100 pitches after a shortened spring training forced the D-backs’ starting staff to be “clipped” at earlier pitch intervals — such as 65 pitches the first time through the rotation — to begin this season.
“I think we’ve done a good job of that here,” the manager said. “We have our starters that are ready and stretched out. (Castellanos) might be a little bit behind that, but he still built up quite a ways. … We’re transitioning through that whole phase of our starters trying to get stretched out. We’re pretty close.”