By Mark Carlisle

Independent Newsmedia

PHOENIX — Robbie Ray got rocked in his second start of spring training. But it’s just spring training. The Diamondbacks’ All-Star left-hander and his manager Torey Lovullo were sure to put the rough outing into perspective after Ray allowed five runs on four hits and two walks, including two home runs, without getting out of the first inning Saturday against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Camelback Ranch-Glendale. Ray was downhearted after the start but said outings like this are why these preseason games are played. “That’s why it’s spring training, trying to work the kinks out, get things right before the season starts,” he said. “Obviously, you don’t want something like this happening during the season, so it’s better that it happens now.” Ray has not had an outing as bad as this one in the regular season or postseason. Saturday was the first time the two teams had met since the Dodgers swept the D-backs out of the playoffs in the National League Division Series in October. This spring game had the same result — the Dodgers defeated the D-backs 14-6. Robbie Ray Ray struggled with control, walking two, throwing first-pitch balls to five of seven batters he faced, getting behind in the count against all seven and totaling 36 pitches for the partial inning. He nearly threw a wild pitch, but catcher Jeff Mathis made the stop. Ray said afterward that he was “getting too quick” with his delivery and falling off the mound after pitches, which is why he kept missing to his arm side. After being pulled, Ray threw a simulated inning in the bullpen, which was about 20 pitches. He said that session allowed him to work through what he did wrong in the game. “I was able to kind of get back to my focus and what I do best and pitching downhill, so I was pretty happy with being able to go down there and finish up,” he said. Lovullo said spring games are an opportunity for players to do just that: identify a mistake and fix it before the real games start. “That’s really what spring training’s all about,” he said. “If it’s not right, fix it, get a feel and you start to kind of push forward.” Ray dominated the Dodgers during his breakout season in 2017, with a 3-0 record and 2.27 ERA over five starts. He also struck out 15.1 batters per nine innings, even better than his 12.1 K/9 rate for the season, which led the NL. However, that success did not carry over to his postseason start, where he gave up four earned runs in 4 1/3 innings. He didn’t rediscover that success Saturday either. Saturday’s outing was a stark change from Ray’s first outing: two scoreless innings against the Cincinnati Reds, where he struck out three and allowed only one baserunner. Ray threw fewer pitches in that game to complete two innings, 32, than he did two record two outs Saturday, 36. The 26-year-old retired only one of the seven batters he faced. One of the two outs came when Mathis threw out Dodgers leadoff man Chris Taylor as he tried to steal second. He had reached on a walk. Despite some impressive statistics in his All-Star season last year — such as his 2.89 ERA, fifth-best in the majors among qualified pitchers — batters hit with hard contact at off of Ray at a higher rate than any qualified pitcher — 40.4 percent. That number could possibly be helped in the regular season by balls being stored in a humidor at Chase Field for the first time this season, a move anticipated to shorten fly balls and give pitchers better grips, but the Dodgers had plenty of hard-hit balls against Ray Saturday. After Taylor, Justin Turner hit a double to the left-field corner, followed by a high home run from Matt Kemp into the packed lawn in left-center field on a sellout day at Camelback Ranch. Yasiel Puig followed with a soft-hit fly out to right for the second out, but then Kyle Farmer crushed a 3-1 pitch that hit the walkway being the Dodgers’ bullpen in left and bounced out of the ballpark. After allowing a single and walking another batter, Ray was pulled. Both runners would score, plus another charged to Joey Krehbiel, who replaced Ray, giving the Dodgers a 6-0 lead after one. Ray had a sky-high left-on-base percentage of 84.5 percent in 2017, the 16th highest season rate of all-time. That number will be hard to match this season, especially if he pitches the way he did Saturday. The teams will face once more this spring, March 16 at the D-backs spring training home, Salt River Fields in Scottsdale. The Dodgers will come to Chase Field for the second series of the year April 1-3.

Mix-and-match infield

Ketel Marte and Chris Owings swapped positions from where they had been playing in the first week of spring. Marte played at second base Saturday and Owings played shortstop. Each player has played both positions in their pro careers. Owings has also played a lot of outfield. Lovullo said he’ll give both players work at each position through the rest of spring. “I’m going to continue to mix and match them,” he said. “You’re going to see Ketel probably get a few more spins at second base, but yeah, I’m going to continue to mix that whole group (of infielders) around as much as I possibly can and create a little versatility in each guy.”

Yasmany Tomas

With fireworks coming from the LA offense, Diamondbacks left fielder Yasmany Tomas quietly had a great day at the plate, going 3 for 3 with a double and one RBI. “I thought the approach was good, he wasn’t working around the ball, he was staying through the ball and using his hands,” Lovullo said. “And those are things that he’s working on daily, and it’s nice to have somebody who’s working that hard get those type of results. So I know he’s probably feeling good about himself, and he deserves that.” Tomas will battle for starts in the corner outfield this year after missing most of 2017 with injury. His path to playing time got a little harder when the D-backs traded for Steven Souza Jr. last month. Souza went 0 for 2 with an RBI but had a diving catch in right to end LA’s six-run first inning. Lovullo said defense like that is one of the reasons they brought Souza aboard. “That’s exactly what we expect out of him,” he said. “It was a tremendous play, a tremendous read, and it was a big play, for a big out.”