SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Mark Trumbo homered in his return to the lineup and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 Saturday in a split-squad game shortened to 4½ innings because of rain.
The game was delayed 36 minutes at the start by showers. The rain came back in the bottom of the fifth inning and the game was called with one out.
Logan Schafer tripled and scored in the top of the first for the Brewers. Trumbo answered with a towering home run to left field in the bottom half.
Trumbo went 1 for 2. The Diamondbacks newcomer was scratched from the lineup on Friday with a sore left heel.
Paul Goldschmidt walked for Arizona and scored on Miguel Montero’s double.
Arizona starter Trevor Cahill went 3 1-3 innings, allowing one run and two hits. He struck out four, walked one and hit a batter.
“Being one of the last guys to throw, you get excited,” Cahill said. “You can’t get prepared throwing batting practice and simulated games.”
STARTING TIME
Athletics: Cahill was the latest Diamondbacks starter to throw extended innings in his first spring start. A day earlier, lefty Patrick Corbin went four innings.
Cahill was pleased he was able to command his pitches well in his first game action.
“My curveball was working and I was able to throw a strike when I needed to, which is a good sign,” he said.
Brewers: Hiram Burgos started in front of a largely reserve squad for Milwaukee, which also played a split-squad game against the Dodgers. Burgos has an outside chance of making the rotation but, barring an injury to another starter, more likely will start the season in Triple-A.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Brewers” Third baseman Aramis Ramirez didn’t play in either of the Brewers’ split-squad games and remains day to day following December surgery to remove a non-cancerous polyp from his colon.
BACKSTOP BATTLE
Montero started at catcher, but the competition to be his backup is growing. Henry Blanco, who caught 58 games for Arizona in 2011 and 2012, is in camp as a non-roster player and could land a roster spot, particularly if Tuffy Gosewisch is slow to come back from a strained calf. The 30-year-old Gosewisch caught 14 games for the Diamondbacks last year. General manager Kevin Towers said Saturday that Bobby Wilson and Blake Lalli also are in the mix.
“It’s pretty much wide open,” said Towers, adding that no decision needs to be made before Arizona’s stateside opener against San Francisco on March 31.
The Diamondbacks will have a 28-man roster for their two-game set against the Dodgers on March 22-23 in Australia. For his part, Gosewisch expects to be back on the field fairly soon after feeling his calf pull in a game against the Dodgers.
“It’s fine,” Gosewisch said. “It’s not playable right now but I think it’ll just be a couple of days before I’m back on the field.”
FAMILIAR FACE
Mark Reynolds, known for both his prodigious power and strikeout totals during four seasons with Arizona, started at third base for the Brewers. Reynolds, who hit 121 homers and struck out 767 times while with the Diamondbacks, singled home Schafer in the first and was hit by a pitch in the fourth.
Reynolds signed a minor league deal with Milwaukee in the offseason after batting a cumulative .220 with 21 home runs for the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians.
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