Arizona Diamondbacks: Trevor Cahill struggles mightily

Mar 6, 2014; Salt River Pima-Maricopa, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Trevor Cahill (35) throws to the Oakland Athletics in the fourth inning of their spring training game Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Mandatory Credit: Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports

MLB’s second night of regular season baseball got underway from Australia on Saturday night as the Arizona Diamondbacks faced off against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2014 Opening Series. Arizona sent Trevor Cahill to the mound to battle Hyun-Jin Ryu on the other side of the field.

Cahill’s struggles started early when he had trouble retiring Dodger hitters in the 1st inning. A single by Yasiel Puig and a walk to Adrian Gonzalez set up an RBI single to Andre Ethier, putting Los Angeles up 1-0 early.

The second inning was a nice rebound for the 26-year old pitcher, but the third brought problems of it’s own. Cahill let up an opposite-field single to Ryu, an at-bat followed by a deep Dee Gordon double. Puig was able to notch his second hit of the game following Gordon’s two-bagger, extending the Dodger lead to two.

Gonzalez would add a sac-fly to his night, putting the Dodgers up 3-0 after three innings.

After fighting his way through a jam in the 4th inning, Cahill was at 73 pitches – a number that seemed to happen in the blink of an eye.

The fifth inning wasn’t kind to the Diamondbacks, either. After walking Gonzalez and Ethier on full-counts, Cahill was pulled from the game. Those two walks ended up scoring, making for an ugly final line:

FINAL LINE: 4 innings, 8 hits, 4 walks, 5 earned runs, 1 strikeout, 89 pitches

This poor outing has to come as a concern for the D-Backs coaching staff. Although it’s still early, Cahill looked to be as rusty as ever making his first start of the year. His spring training numbers weren’t eye-popping, leaving many to wonder how the 2014 Diamondbacks will fare.

After last night’s outing, the whole team must be wondering the same. Things certainly didn’t go their way in Australia. Will they get better once their normal schedule heats up?