Surreal.
That's how Barry Enright described his major league debut Wednesday in St. Louis against the Cardinals. Enright had his contract purchased by the Diamondbacks earlier in the day from Class AA Mobile, and he pitched five solid innings to earn the win as the Diamondbacks beat the Cardinals 4-2. Enright, a second-round draft pick in 2007 out of Pepperdine, allowed one run on four hits with four walks and five strikeouts.
"It's just a pretty surreal feeling," he said. "Being able to get congratulations from all the guys and to go five pretty solid innings and give the team a good chance to win, I can't ask for anything better."
Enright, pitching in Edwin Jackson's slot as the right-hander gets extra rest to recover from his 149-pitch no-hitter Friday in Tampa Bay, will remain in the rotation for the foreseeable future. Lefty Dontrelle Willis has been moved to the bullpen for the time being.
Enright threw 102 pitches and found himself in several three-ball counts against the Cardinals but managed to work his way out of tough situations.
"I was 2-0, 3-1 before I could even blink my eyes," he said. "It was a grind, it was a struggle, but I managed to get out of some jams. I was a little nervous out there and was guiding my fastball at times, but I got the win, and it's good to get the first one out of the way.
"It's a pretty special feeling, and hopefully the first of many. That first pitch and getting out on that mound, it was a pretty surreal feeling. To face guys I've grown up watching, against a special ballclub and a special place here in St. Louis, it was just real good to be out here."
DIAMONDBACKS 4, CARDINALS 2: Chris Young hit a two-run home run to help Arizona avoid a three-game sweep in St. Louis. Young's 14th homer gave the Diamondbacks a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning, and the bullpen, which has been notoriously bad all season,
allowed just one run over the final four innings. The Diamondbacks earned three wins on their six-game road trip after dropping 15 of their previous 16 games away from Chase Field.
SNAKE BYTES
--LHP Dontrelle Willis, who has walked 27 batters in 21 1/3 innings since being acquired from the Tigers, has been moved to the bullpen and will be available Friday when the Dodgers visit the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks think it may help him cure his control problems. They also will use him predominately against left-handed hitters, who are batting just .100 (2-for-20) against him since he arrived in Arizona. Right-handers are hitting .352 (19-for-54) against Willis.
--RHP Carlos Rosa was optioned to Class AAA Reno when the club purchased the contract of RHP Barry Enright from Class AA Mobile. Enright made his major league debut Wednesday in St. Louis. Rosa was 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA in 15 games.
--Wednesday's game in St. Louis lasted three hours, 53 minutes and was the longest nine-inning game at 5-year-old Busch Stadium
II.
--RHP Dan Haren made his second pinch-hit appearance of the season on Wednesday in St. Louis and drew a walk and later scored on Chris Young's home run. Haren got a hit in his first pinch-hit appearance earlier in the season.
--SS Stephen Drew was back in the starting lineup Wednesday against St. Louis after missing the first two games of the series because of soreness behind his left knee. He went 2-for-5.
--RHP Juan Gutierrez, who had a 10.31 ERA on June 1, hadn't allowed a run in five appearances until surrendering one Wednesday against the Cardinals.
The inning before allowing that run, Gutierrez stranded three inherited runners
by inducing a groundout to Cardinals superstar Albert Pujols. J-Gut has moved back into a setup role for interim closer Aaron Heilman and has lowered his ERA to 7.67.
DIAMOND STAT: .446 -- RF Justin Upton's batting average in interleague play this season.
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