PHOENIX -- Josh Collmenter's second career shutout Friday, the first in the majors this season, worked well for the Diamondbacks on several levels.
Most importantly, Collmenter found the rhythm that earned him the 2015 Opening Day start, cruising to a 9-0 victory while being supported by 18 hits. He gave up four hits, and only one runner reached second base, that when Joe Panik doubled with one out in the ninth inning. Collmenter used 114 pitches, which should be no issue -- with two off days next week, he would not start again until next Friday if the D-backs stay in turn.
"I'm just glad I got back to pitching how I was, mixing it up," Collmenter told FOX Sports Arizona. "My fastball command was as good as it has been all year. If it can stay right there, I think I can have some success."
Collmenter also gave the bullpen some relief. The D-backs needed length after using all seven relievers in their 7-6, 12-inning victory over the Giants on Thursday, a night in which Collmenter threw lightly in the bullpen in the 12th in case the game continued.
Randall Delgado was unavailable after pitching in the previous two days and three of the last four, and a short start by Collmenter might have necessitated a roster move to add another arm for the final two days of the Giants' series. Now, the D-backs' bullpen should be fine.
"To give them a day off after what they did last night was huge," Collmenter said. "I just wanted to make sure I pitched deep in the game. Any time you get a chance to throw a shutout, you want to."
Collmenter even had three hits and drove in a run.
It called to mind his first shutout -- a 3-0 victory over Cincinnati last May 29 when he faced the minimum 27 batters. The only three runners that night were erased on double plays.
Collmenter retired 14 in a row before Panik's ninth-inning double, a reversal from his first two starts, when he was 0-2 and gave up 19 hits and seven earned runs in 9 2/3 innings.
He has found AT&T Park to his liking -- he is 3-0 with an 0.96 ERA in seven appearances, three starts, at AT&T. He did not give up a run in 10 innings there in 2014.
* Ender Inciarte and A.J. Pollock hit 1-2 in the lineup for the third straight game on Friday, and it appears that manager Chip Hale is going to stick with that pairing for the near future. Inciarte had two hits, Pollock had four, and each scored two runs. Inciarte and Pollock wired one-out singles to start a three-run third inning, and both scored. Pollock's two-out single in the fourth knocked out Giants starter Jake Peavy. Inciarte is hitting .395 and has reached base via hit or walk in 10 of 11 games. Pollock bumped his average to .333.
* October shoulder surgery kept Chris Owings out of the first 10 games in spring training, and the slight delay probably had something to do with his 3-for-29 start, as did his finding a comfort level with a new swing designed to take some of the stress off his left shoulder. Owings looked to be back on track, going 2-for-4 with two singles, two runs, a stolen base and a walk. He created a run in the fourth when he singled, stole second, tagged up and took third on a fly ball to medium center field and scored on Josh Collmenter's single.
* Paul Goldschmidt's RBI single in the third inning gave him the major league RBI lead with 13, breaking a tie with Toronto rookie second baseman Devon Travis. Goldschmidt hit his first major league homer at AT&T Park on Aug. 2, 2011, and he has not stopped hitting there since. He has 11 doubles, seven homers and 29 RBI in 33 games at AT&T, which consistently grades out as one of the best pitcher's parks in the majors.
* Jake Lamb had two hits, two walks and two RBI, his two-run triple capping a three-run third inning. His triple, which landed on the warning track near the 421-foot sign in right-center field, would have been a home run in almost any other park. He is 11 for 25 (.440) with nine RBI, tied for second among major league third basemen.
* Yasmany Tomas' first major league action in the field came at first base, when he took over there after pinch-hitting for Jake Lamb in the ninth inning. Jordan Pacheco, who had replaced Goldschmidt at first in the eighth inning, moved to third.
Chip Hale put runners in motion to great success in the early innings. Pollock's hit-and-run single got Inciarte to third base in the three-run third inning. David Peralta singled to open the fifth inning and was running on Lamb's groundout to second base, staying out of a double play. Tuffy Gosewisch's single turned that extra base into a run. And Pollock stole second base with one out in the sixth, scoring on Peralta's double two batters later.
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