News Forum Blogs Roster Players Schedule Depth chart Stats Videos Photos

Arizona Diamondbacks News

News » Cubs 10, Diamondbacks 7


Cubs 10, Diamondbacks 7


Cubs 10, Diamondbacks 7
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Brandon Webb and Rich Harden weren't perfect, just good enough to pronounce themselves on target in preparation for the regular season.

Micah Hoffpauir's three-run homer marred Webb's best outing of the spring in the Chicago Cubs' 10-7 victory over Arizona on Sunday. They were the only runs allowed by the Diamondbacks' ace, who gave up four hits in four innings, striking out four and walking two.

Harden, in his second spring start, retired the first six batters he faced before struggling with his control. He gave up three runs and three hits, including Chris Snyder's solo homer, while striking out three and walking three in 2 2-3 innings. He also walked in a run.

Mark Reynolds hit his first home run of the spring, a towering shot to left on a 3-2 pitch from Jeff Stevens to put Arizona ahead 4-3 in the sixth.

Brad Snyder, Mike Fontenot and Welington Castillo homered off Kyler Newby in Chicago's four-run eighth.

Harden, who struck out three and walked three, has been brought along slowly this spring because of his history of shoulder trouble.

"Yeah, I got a little wild that last inning. It happens, whatever," he said, blaming the control problems on issues with his mechanics.

Harden, whose $7 million option was picked up by the Cubs for this season, did some added offseason conditioning work to strengthen his arm and shoulder.

"Overall I felt really strong," he said. "That's probably the best I've felt in a long time. I felt like I could have thrown 100 pitches today."

Webb gave up one hit in the first two innings before getting in trouble with two outs in the third. Joey Gathright singled and stole second, then Ryan Theriot walked. Hoffpauir hit the first pitch off the top of the center-field fence for his third homer of the spring.

"Other than the third inning where I kind of lost it there," Webb said, "it went pretty good. The fastball was pretty good. I located it fairly well with a few ground balls."

He said he felt no discomfort in his forearm, where tightness caused him to skip a start earlier in the spring.

"That's as good as he's looked all spring," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said.

Chris Snyder hit his second homer of the spring leading off the third.

Notes: Arizona OF Eric Byrnes, coming back from hamstring injuries that sidelined him nearly all of last season, saw his first game action of the spring in a minor league contest, going 3-for-5 with a walk and a stolen base. He said he felt great and hopes to play for the Diamondbacks against Oakland in Phoenix on Tuesday. ... The Cubs' Kevin Hart struck out three of the four batters he faced in relief of Harden. ... A standing-room only crowd of 11,455, by far the Diamondbacks' largest of the spring, watched the game in the sunshine at Tucson Electric Park.


Author:Fox Sports
Author's Website:http://www.foxsports.com
Added: March 16, 2009

imgp4061-conor-jackson-sacrifice-bunt---arizona-diamondbacks
Arizona Diamondbacks Photos
All the latest Arizona Diamondbacks Photos Store photographs. Major League Baseball MLB.
The most recent photo
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Add to Google
Add to My Yahoo!
Subscribe in NewsGator Online
Add to Windows Live

Copyright © Dbackszone.com, Inc. All rights reserved 2008.