Player of the gameBrandon PfaadtARI5.1ip 3h 1er 2k
Brandon Pfaadt traveled a lot of miles to get to Tuesday night's start against the Giants. Literal miles. The Diamondbacks planned to call Pfaadt up from Triple-A Reno to start last Friday's series opener against the Rays in St. Petersburg, so they flew him there on Thursday in preparation. Because there are no direct flights from Reno to Tampa, he had to fly to San Francisco first and then to Tampa. Except the Diamondbacks got rained out in St. Louis on Thursday night, so in order to keep the rotation set, Pfaadt's start was pushed back to Tuesday. After checking into the team hotel on Thursday, he got a call from general manager Mike Hazen telling him to head back to Phoenix, which is what he did on Friday. "That was a crazy 24 hours," Pfaadt said. Back in Phoenix, Pfaadt threw a simulated game on Saturday in order to stay sharp for Tuesday’s start. However he prepared, it certainly worked for him. He turned in an outstanding performance, allowing just one run over 5 1/3 innings as the Diamondbacks beat the Giants, 8-2, at Chase Field. Pfaadt opened the year in Arizona's rotation, but compiled a 5.84 ERA in his first three starts before he was shifted to the bullpen when the Diamondbacks activated Merrill Kelly off the IL. The plan was for Pfaadt to throw in long relief with the thought that he could keep his pitch count up and be an option if Arizona needed a starter. It was the same thing the team did with Ryne Nelson last season. Only, the starting rotation began pitching deeper into games, and innings for Pfaadt became harder and harder to come by. He was optioned to Reno on June 3 so that he could get his pitch count built back up.
