PEORIA, Ariz. — J.J. Putz saved 45 games for the NL West champion Arizona Diamondbacks last season. For 2012, he’s adding a new pitch to his repertoire — a cutter.
Putz threw his cutter often in his spring debut Friday, allowing a run in an inning in the Diamondbacks’ 8-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners at Peoria Sports Complex.
Carlos Peguero hit a solo shot off Putz in the fourth for his third home run of the spring.
Aaron Hill, Ryan Roberts, Chris Young and Rusty Ryal each homered for Arizona. Roberts hit a three-run shot off Mariners starter Jason Vargas for his third home run of the spring.
In his inning of work, Putz allowed two hits and struck out one.
“I went out there and pretty much accomplished everything I wanted to do and got out of there with a good feel,” Putz said. “I threw some good pitches, left one pitch kind of middle of the plate to a guy that has a lot of power (on the home run). It was a cutter.
“It’s a work in progress, but a lot of positives out there.”
Diamondbacks top prospect Trevor Bauer took the mound before Putz. Bauer, the third overall pick of the 2011 draft out of UCLA, gave up hits and got hit. A comebacker struck by Brendan Ryan hit off Bauer’s calf, but Bauer remained in the game.
“I felt good physically, until Brendan Ryan smoked one off me. That hurt a little bit,” Bauer said.
Bauer allowed two runs and four hits in three innings. He struck out two. He wasn’t as sharp as he had been in his spring debut Saturday, when he allowed no hits in two scoreless innings against the Colorado Rockies. His ERA is 3.60.
“Strikes? Yeah. Quality strikes? No,” he said. “I was missing more down in the zone than I like to. I like to pitch in the upper half of the zone. Today, I was getting the ball at the knees, and they were hitting it. … But, hey, it’s live and learn.”
Vargas, the Mariners No. 2 starter, was also making his second start of the spring. The left-hander allowed five runs in four innings. He struck out four and walked one. He got stretched out, throwing 82 pitches and will likely need two more outings to be ready for the Mariners’ second regular-season game March 29 in Tokyo.
“They brought a good majority of their regular lineup, so I figured it was going to be a tougher day,” said Vargas, whose spring ERA is 5.63.
“(There are) some experienced guys on that team and some guys that have had some success against me in the past. I knew it was going to be a good challenge.”
For the Mariners, Alex Liddi went 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI, and Mike Carp went 2 for 3 with a double.
Notes
Mariners manager Eric Wedge said there’s optimism C Adam Moore can return “a lot earlier” than was first anticipated from his broken right wrist. Moore is expected to miss the rest of spring training, but he said Friday he hopes to be back in 2-4 weeks. He injured the wrist Tuesday. … Arizona pitcher Josh Collmenter was scratched from his start Friday due to tightness in his forearm. … The Mariners sent LHPs Steve Garrison and Philippe Valiquette and RHP Jarrett Grube to the minors. The moves leave Seattle with 62 players in camp.
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