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Gosselin powers D-backs offense, A's hit Miller hard
MESA, Ariz. -- Phil Gosselin had three hits including a triple and 5 RBIs, Wellington Castillo homered and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Oakland Athletics 12-9 on Wednesday.
Shelby Miller pitched four innings in his final spring appearance, giving up seven runs on seven hits. He walked three and struck out four.
"The biggest thing is to get out healthy and keep your pitch count up," Diamondbacks closer Brad Ziegler said after pitching a scoreless inning. "You can see the talent and you know he'll be ready April 4."
Ziegler said the revamped starting rotation will help ease the burden on the bullpen and give Arizona a chance every time out. Tuffy Gosewisch and Yasmani Tomas also drove in runs.
THREE TAKEAWAYS: D-backs 12, A's 9
* It wasn't a good lasting taste to take into the regular season, but Chip Hale isn't going to fret about Shelby Miller's last spring start, in which he gave up seven runs in four innings.
"They hit him pretty hard," Hale said. "… Did he have the success that he wanted or we wanted? No. But it's OK. It's his last spring start and he got all his pitches in. You have to flush that one. We know what we have in him so we're not worried about it."
* All this offense does is produce. Even without Paul Goldschmidt and David Peralta (and A.J. Pollock, for that matter), the D-backs reached double-digit runs. They tallied six runs in the fifth and scored in each of the final five innings.
"It was 7-0 and there was no panic in the dugout," said Phil Gosselin, who had three hits and five RBI.
* In the competition for the final bullpen spot(s), Enrique Burgos gave up a pair of runs in one inning. He'd previously allowed just one run in 7 1/3 innings this spring. Meanwhile, Silvino Bracho struck out three and gave up just one hit in 1 2/3 innings.
-- Chris Gabel, FOX Sports Arizona
Arizona's Jean Segura singled, his 30th hit of the spring, to improve to .517. Castillo has 12 RBIs in his last seven games.
"We have an offense that's great at creating runs," Ziegler said. "The bottom line is we still have to go out and execute and once we get the lead, it will be up to us to put up zeroes."
A's starter Rich Hill had his best outing of the spring, allowing a pair of runs on two hits over 4 1/3 innings. He walked three and struck out two.
"It was just being ultra-aggressive," Hill said. "That was the biggest thing. I got on a roll to start and as the game went on, we were picking up the pace."
Hill gave up 13 runs in three previous starts before making two starts in minor league camp.
"It was like night and day," he said of control issues. "I got into an attack mode in the bullpen and carried that into the game. Everything came out crisp and clean."
Every A's position players had one at-bat and left the game for an early flight to Oakland.
Top prospects Matt Chapman and Chad Pinder each hit a home run for the A's. Chris Coghlan drove in a pair of runs and Yonder Alfonso drove in one.
Diamondbacks: RHP Braden Shipley starts for Arizona against the Colorado Rockies on Thursday in Scottsdale.
Athletics: RHP Chris Bassitt will start Thursday night's game in San Francisco against the Giants and RHP Jeff Samardzija.
