SAN FRANCISCO — Right-hander Randall Delgado might have pitched his way out of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ rotation Thursday night.
Delgado gave up three runs on six hits and lasted just 3 1/3 innings in Arizona’s 6-5, 10-inning victory against the San Francisco Giants. He gave up six runs on 10 hits against Colorado in his first start of the season.
Manager Kirk Gibson said he wasn’t ready to decide whether to yank Delgado from the starting staff.
“You’ve got to give me a couple days to think about it,” Gibson said.
Delgado said he made progress from his first start.
“I think I felt better today with my location and everything,” Delgado said. “Unfortunately for me I threw just three innings and one third. … But I feel good about how I pitched. I was doing most of the time what I wanted.”
Gibson said Delgado “started out good” before the Giants started getting to him.
“His velocity started to drop. Didn’t think his changeup was sharp,” Gibson said. “That’s why I went to the bullpen.”
If Gibson decides to make a change, right-handed reliever Josh Collmenter established himself Wednesday night as a solid option to start if he is needed.
Collmenter, who moved from the rotation to the bullpen in 2012, pitched four scoreless innings and earned his first career save in a 7-3 victory against the Giants at AT&T Park.
“We wanted to get him stretched out,” Gibson said. “He hadn’t really done that since about halfway through spring training. So it does give us another option should we need somebody to go longer, and we know (Collmenter), even if he’s not starting, if you put him in the game, he can go four, five, six innings.”
Collmenter threw 53 pitches Wednesday, and Gibson said he could have thrown as many as 65.
“He has a great talent with his arm,” Gibson said Thursday. “He must have mechanics with the way he throws, it just doesn’t take a ton out of him. I know he’s a little sore today, but it’s a good sore. I think he has the ability to go a lot further. I think he can go 75 next time, maybe even more.”