Right-hander Aaron Heilman, who had given up home runs in each of his previous three appearances, was placed on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation Friday, two days after he gave up six runs and seven hits in a 15-5 loss to St. Louis on April 13.
"I felt something warming up or my last spring start, and I was not able to get
the finish on my pitches that I need to be able to," said Heilman, who was 1-0
with a 12.15 ERA in four appearances. "For me, it's not so much the pain
as the effectiveness. I can deal with the pain as long as I can go out there and
be effective and help the team win."
Heilman lost a spring battle for the fifth spot in the rotation to Armando Galarraga.
Since 2006, he is the lone reliever to post five straight seasons of at least 70
relief appearances after making the transition to the bullpen in May, 2005. This
is the first time in his career Heilman has been placed on the disabled list.
Right-hander Josh Collmenter was recalled from Triple-A Reno to replace Heilman as the long reliever. Collmenter, added to the D-backs' 40-man roster this winter, led minor league baseball with 34 victories in 2008-10 and went 14-6 with a 3.38 ERA at three levels last season.
"It's the call you wait for your entire career," said Collmenter. "It's an indescribable feeling."
A 15th round draft choice out of Central Michigan in 2007, Collmenter won his lone start in Reno this season, allowing one earned run with seven strikeouts in six innings April 10.
He owns a 41-27 record and 3.50 ERA with 176 walks and 472 strikeouts in 94
career minor league games. FutureBacks.com had Collmenter ranked as
the 14th-best prospect in the Diamondbacks' organization heading into the
season.
In a pair of related moves, Kyler Newby has been promoted to Triple-A Reno and Clay Zavada has been called from Reno's
disabled list to pitch for Double-A Mobile.
Newby has been with the BayBears for the last two seasons and reached a
career-high in strikeouts in 2010. This is first promotion to Triple-A. He
was sent to the big leagues in 2009 for two days but didn't pitch. Zavada was lights out for the BayBears in 2009 before a promotion to Arizona, where he had a 3.35 ERA in 49 outings. He missed most of last season after
undergoing Tommy John surgery.
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