PHOENIX — Right-hander Bronson Arroyo made it 15 years without a stint on the disabled list. He was hoping a day like Monday would never come.
“I’ve prided myself on durability for a long time. I’ve been avoiding this day for two decades, doing a bunch of meticulous small things to stay here,” the Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander said after being forced to the disabled list with a strained ulnar collateral ligament. “I would have hoped to make it to the end of my career without having to do it. It’s just not the way it is. I’ve gone out the last six times, and it’s been impossible.”
The move will end Arroyo’s streak of 336 consecutive starts dating to May 15, 2004, when he returned to the Boston rotation. His streak of 369 starts without a stint on the DL trailed only the run of 443 starts by Toronto Blue Jays left-hander Mark Buehrle among active pitchers, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Arroyo said would attempt to rehab the injury. He plans to stay away from throwing for 10 days to see how the arm reacts, then begin a throwing program that he hopes can get him back after the All-Star break.
“I’ve dealt with a lot of things in the past,” Arroyo said. “There are certain protocols that I know would have cleaned them up. This one has acted a bit different. I really don’t know what is going to happen. We are going to try to get all the swelling out and let it calm down completely … then try to fire it back up and see if it acts differently. If it acts the same, we are going to have to try something different.”
Arroyo (7-4) leads the D-backs in victories after going five innings in a 6-3 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday, when his fastball topped out at 83 mph, less velocity than even he usually takes into a game. He pitched with right elbow soreness for the past month or longer and said the pain kept getting worse. He was unable to do his side work before his last two starts, and he told pitching coach Mike Harkey while warming up Sunday that he knew it would be his last start for a while.
“I don’t think I cracked 80 miles an hour in the first inning,” Arroyo said. “To win like that is tough to do. I can’t keep going out there putting (anti-)inflammatories in my body and beating myself down. I see the arm going south. If it would have stayed the same as it was five, six starts ago, I could deal with the pain, but it continues to get more and more swollen.”
Arroyo, 37, won his last three starts. He is 121-112 with a 4.19 ERA in 405 major league appearances, 369 starts.
“It’s very unfortunate,” Arizona general manager Kevin Towers said. “A guy who has had an unblemished track record when it comes to posting up each and every time. It would have been hard to run him out there again. Going to war, as he said, against AK47s with his little 22. He still found a way in win, which was amazing.”
Arroyo was taking several hours of treatment a day the last few weeks, and he said when he woke up Monday, his arm was at a 40-degree angle.
“I think the last three times he went out there he’s been at about 50 percent,” Towers said before the Diamondbacks’ 9-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday. “It’s pretty amazing that he’s posted the type of numbers. It just shows you the art of pitching and changing of speeds and being smart.
“I sat right behind home plate yesterday and I was like ‘Whoa, 76, 78 (mph)’. How is he going to get through this lineup? Maybe the first time, but two or three times through the lineup. He got a ‘W.’ He’s fun to watch pitch. He’s been great for guys like Chase Anderson, (Josh) Collmenter, some of our young guys, (showing) how you can go out there and win without your best stuff.”