Arizona Diamondbacks: Is Patrick Corbin ‘the new stopper?’

With three straight wins, Patrick Corbin of the Arizona Diamondbacks evened his season record.

To discover his effectiveness and command, you would have the turn the clock back four years. That’s when lefty Patrick Corbin of the Arizona Diamondbacks blew past the competition like a hot knife through butter early in the season, and was rewarded with placement on the National League All-Star game.

That was before his dreaded Tommy John surgery and that grueling, demanding and laborious rehab period.

Corbin was slated to open the 2014 season against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Sydney, Australia. Just prior to that trans-Pacific flight, he discovered tightness in his pitching elbow during a spring training game against the Cleveland Indians in Goodyear, Ariz. That led to the discovery of ligament damage and the protracted 18-month recovery period.

After a year-and-a-half, Corbin returned to the mound against the Colorado Rockies at Chase Field on July 4, 2015, and allowed two earned runs in five innings in his return. Corbin then posted a respectable 6-5 mark and that followed with a stellar 2016 spring. Earning a spot in the rotation, Corbin’s results were less than spectacular (5-13, 5.15 ERA) and then-manager Chip Hale banished the native of Clay, N.Y., to the bullpen.

More from Arizona Diamondbacks

• Can we expect late-season runs for the Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks?
• MLB rumors: Arizona Diamondbacks taking less aggressive approach at MLB trade deadline
• Trade deadline: NL West for sale, plus Dodgers, Giants, Diamondbacks wish list
• Arizona Diamondbacks: Are they a pretender or contender for the NL West and more?
• Mike Hazen’s impact on the Arizona Diamondbacks: An interim grade

Again, Corbin impressed with a solid 2017 spring training, and manager Torey Lovullo, like Hale before, inserted Corbin into the rotation. Again, the early results mirrored last season and by the time Corbin took the mound in Chase Field for a start against the Chicago Cubs on Aug. 13, he was three games below .500, suffered from double-digits losses and an ERA that approached five.

Almost like flipping a light switch, Corbin experienced a dramatic turnaround in his next three starts, including shut-out baseball for 6 2/3 innings against the defending World Champion Cubs. When Corbin toed the rubber for his opening pitch of that game, he entered with a mark of 8-11 and 4.76 ERA. After limiting the Mets to one run over eight innings Tuesday and gaining his third straight victory, he evened his season record to 11-11 and dropped his ERA (now, 4.09) by nearly one run.

It’s no secret that when Corbin throws first pitch strikes, he basically cruises. When he gets behind, Corbin tries to throw “the perfect pitch,” and that’s when he gets hurt.

In his last three wins over the Cubs, Astros and Mets, his control has been stellar. In 23 innings in those games, Corbin walked one hitter in each of these contests and allowed a combined two runs. In this stretch, he recorded 20.1 scoreless innings, a career best. That was broken when the Mets’ Amed Rosario slammed a fifth-inning homer Tuesday night.

Despite facing a Mets line-up of prospects, Corbin rejected the notion that his opposition was compromised. Instead, he told the Associated Press that he wanted to simply to go after hitters.

"“When those young guys come up, they’re a little happy up there and just kind of really aggressive,” he said."

Now that Corbin has recorded three straight wins for the first time this season, the 28-year-old appears to have settled into a competitive groove. Whether he can now be classified as “a stopper” is an identification to be determined.

Ideally, that label will not have to be applied, because that means the Diamondbacks are winning on a consistent basis and would not need Corbin, Zack Greinke nor Zack Godley to halt opponents in their tracks.

Next: Renfroe sent down to work on plate discipline

In the trainer’s room

Outfielder Yasmany Tomas has been lost for the season.

The Cuban-born Tomas, out since June 6 with right groin tendinitis, will have surgery for a sports hernia. At the same time, pitcher Rubby De La Rosa will undergo Tommy John surgery for the second time his career.

With a fractured right hand sustained in Monday’s win over the Mets, catcher Jeff Mathis could be looking at a season-ending injury. If a reasonable recovery time is six to eight weeks, that would put Mathis back on the roster in mid-to late October. If the Diamondbacks qualify for wild card entry and get deep into post-season play, Mathis could return for the World Series.