By Jack Magruder
FOXSportsArizona.com
Aaron Heilman considers himself a starting pitcher, and he has for some time, even as he was making 70 relief appearances in each of the last five seasons. He looked it Saturday in his first start of the spring, building his case for inclusion in the rotation with two scoreless innings.
Heilman threw only 13 pitches while facing the minimum six batters in the Diamondbacks' opener at Salt River Fields, an 8-7, 10-inning loss Colorado. He gave up a single to Troy Tulowitzki leading off the second inning before getting Ian Stewart to ground into a double play.
It was a short channeling of Heilman's second start of 2005, when he gave up one hit against Florida in his lone career shutout for the Mets. He made five more starts for the Mets that season and has not started since, although it has not been his idea.
"I still think of myself as a starter. I still feel like I have the stuff to do, am physically able to do it and can handle the workload. It's been a while, but things feel good," Heilman said.
"Sometimes how you would like to be used doesn't always fit in to the needs of the team. You keep working on the things that you want to do and where you want to get to. At the end on the day, you go out there and compete. That's what it's all about and that's why we're all here."
Heilman did more cardio work in the offseason to prepare for a starting shot, which appears to shake out as a competition between Heilman, Zach Duke, Barry Enright and Armando Galarraga for the final two places.
"Certainly we have a lot of competition in this room. By no means is it going to be easy, but I feel like I have just as good of a shot as the next guy. That's all I've ever wanted, to have a legitimate shot, and see if I can go out and win a job," Heilman said.
Duke followed Heilman and gave up one run and five singles in two innings, although he got out the third and fourth innings with double play grounders. One of the singles was a line drive that bounced out of right fielder Gerardo Parra's glove. Duke also picked a runner off first.
"I like to think I don't panic in situations like that. I'm able to get the kind of result I want, the ground ball double play," Duke said.
THE GOLDSCHMIDT STANDARD
Paul Goldschmidt, who tied for third in the minor leagues with 35 home runs last year, hit a three-run home run with two outs in the ninth inning to Saturday tie the game at 7. Goldschmidt's ball landed three-quarters of the way up the berm beyond the left-field fence and was estimated at 435, 400 feet.
"Majestic," teammate Andy Tracy said.
First baseman Goldschmidt was the California League player of the year in 2010, his first at high-A, when he led the league in homers, doubles (42), total bases (318) and slugging percentage (.616) while batting .314.
"I'm just trying to learn from all the veteran guys we have," said Goldschmidt, an eight-round pick in the 2009 draft. "We have guys willing to talk hitting and defense. They've been helpful on the physical and the mental side. It's nice to settle in. I don't feel it's any bigger stage than I'm used to."
Of the first base competition, manager Kirk Gibson said: "Everybody's in the mix."
On Goldschmidt's chances? "I wouldn't rule him out."
DREW, YOUNG SAVE RUNS
Stephen Drew saved Duke a run with an alert play in the second inning, after Duke picked off Colorado's Dexter Fowler with two out and runners on first and third. Drew took first baseman Juan Miranda's throw as Fowler broke for second base before stopping midway as Jordan Pacheco took off for home.
Drew took first baseman Juan Miranda's throw, ran down Fowler to tag him out just before Pacheco crossed the plate. Had Pacheco scored before the tag, his run would have counted.
Center fielder Chris Young threw out Jose Lopez trying to score from second base on Jonathan Herrera's single in the fifth. Henry Blanco took the throw on the first-base side of the bag and dove to the plate to tag Lopez.
SUNDAY PROBABLES
Right-hander Ian Kennedy will make his first spring start when the D-Backs (0-2) play host to San Francisco (1-0) on Sunday, the second of four games between the D-Backs and the World Series-champion Giants this spring.
Kennedy, who was 9-10 with a 3.80 ERA in his first season in Arizona in 2010, is to oppose Matt Cain (13-11, 3.14). Also scheduled to pitch for the D-Backs are Daniel Hudson, Kevin Mulvey, Joe Paterson, Zach Kroenke and Josh Collmenter. The D-Backs are to play Colorado again Monday and Tuesday.
SHORT HOPS
Kelly Johnson became the answer to a trivia question when he hit an opposite-field home run down the left-field line in the third inning -- the first homer at Salt River Fields -- to break a scoreless tie. "The wind was kind of shifting that way. You have to know where to hit it sometimes," Johnson said with a smile. He also drew the first walk when he worked one leading off the last of the first inning.
Micah Owings gave up three hits and a walk while getting one out in the seventh inning of his first spring appearance Saturday. "He got behind in the count and he paid for it," Gibson said. The inning also was prolonged by a throwing error on catcher John Hester.
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