It was another unseasonably warm day up in the valley, perfect (not) for the Diamondbacks to host the Texas Rangers at Salt River Fields in the penultimate spring training game of 2026. The starting lineup was comprised of pretty much what I think we can expect to see breaking camp with the team in a few days: it was mainly the usual suspects, aside from Brian McCann catching and Tim Tawa playing third base, with Nolan Arenado hitting in the DH spot and Corbin Carroll getting the day off. Ryne Nelson took the mound against former Rockie Austin Gomber in his last tuneup before the regular season gets underway.
It went quite well, all things considered.
Nelson pitched five shutout innings, striking out seven, walking none, and surrendering only four hits along the way. He threw 76 pitches overall, 45 of them for strikes, as he brought his spring ERA down to a nice, eminently respectable 3.18. Taylor Clarke and Paul Sewald followed with a scoreless inning apiece, and the only pitching blemish came from Isaiah Campbell, who gave up two runs in the top of the eighth on two hits and two walks. Lefty farmhand Ryan Giestling pitched a scoreless ninth to notch his second save of the spring.
Meanwhile, the offense staked Ryno an early lead in the bottom of the third, thanks to a one-out Jordan Lawlar single, a Ketel Marte double, and an Alek Thomas three-run homer over the fence in right center field. Lawlar, I’m pleased to say, really does seem to have figured out something with the bat, though of course it’s spring training so we probably shouldn’t read too much into that. Likewise Alek Thomas, who’s been raking this month and is making a reasonably convincing case that he was the outfielder to keep and that Jake McCarthy was the one to send away. Anyway, Nolan Arenado homered to left to lead off the sixth inning against old friend Jalen Beeks, who is trying to win a spot in the Texas bullpen, and the good guys scored their fifth run in the eighth thanks to back-to-back one-out doubles by Ildemaro Vargas and some creature named Jean Harvin Walters who was manning the hot corner for us at that point in the game.
Meanwhile, there was a bit more game action earlier this evening, with the Diamondbacks prospects going up against their counterparts for the Rockies. Our prospects are clearly better than their prospects, as we stomped them to the tune of 10-3. I’m not sure there’s anything terribly noteworthy from that game—LuJames Groover had a hit, Druw Jones had a couple, Jose Fernandez had three. Our offense, as it often does these days, definitely offensed. Beyond that, the only thing from the box score that caught my eye, was that Wellington Aracena, one of the pitching prospects we got from Baltimore in the Blaze Alexander trade, pitched three innings of one-run ball, so that’s kind of cool.
We’ll be in Peoria tomorrow for the final game of spring training, facing off against the Padres at 6:10pm AZ time. Non-roster invitee Joe Ross starts for us, going up against Walker Buehler, who I saw the other day made the San Diego team and will be breaking camp with the Padres.
Thanks for reading, and see you all next Saturday for some actual baseball that counts! Go Diamondbacks!
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