PHOENIX -- So this is what a two-way catcher looks like.
Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale and Jeremy Hellickson, the first Arizona pitcher to get a feel for Welington Castillo, both gave positive reviews of the new catcher's feel behind the plate. The appreciation for Castillo's offensive capabilities already was there as well, but his performance in Saturday's 2-1 win over the New York Mets only put proof in the pudding.
In Castillo's second game since he was acquired from the Seattle Mariners in the Mark Trumbo trade, Castillo knocked the first pitch he saw from Mets starter Bartolo Colon into the left-field seats for a two-run home run in the seventh inning, helping Arizona overcome a 1-0 deficit to win their second straight and move within a game of .500.
Against the stingy Colon, the bomb -- which scored Chris Owings after he extended his hitting streak to 10 games -- made the most out of one of few opportunities the D-backs had to score. The Mets veteran went seven innings, striking out seven and allowing just five hits.
"Bartolo Colon is a guy who throws a lot of sinkers," Castillo said of the fellow Dominican. "He's a groundball guy, he keeps the ball down. I see on that one he leave it a little bit up. That was the pitch to hit."
Castillo also excelled behind the plate. After helping Hellickson go six innings in a 7-2 victory Friday, he teamed with starter Chase Anderson, who for the ninth time in 11 starts didn't earn the win in the scorebook.
This time, however, a sluggish offensive outing didn't doom the D-backs.
"Somebody on the bench, I think it was ... (bench coach) Glenn Sherlock said, 'Well, maybe we'll score some runs now that Chase is out of there,'" Hale cracked. "He did a great job. He and Welington worked really well together, moved the ball around and used all his pitches tonight."
Anderson's pitch count of 107 bit him eventually, but eight hits against him were mostly scattered throughout 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander allowed one earned run on a Juan Lagares solo shot in the second inning. Anderson struck out six and walked one, and he felt good with Castillo making the calls.
"Today before the game, he had a good feel for what my pitch is, and that's the change-up," Anderson said. "He didn't shy away from calling it anytime I needed him to."
The only mar on the catcher's evening came in the ninth inning, when his glove interfered with a batter, putting two runners on with one out for closer Brad Ziegler. Arizona got out of it with a double-play, putting a ribbon on Castillo's introduction to the D-backs, one that couldn't have gone much better.
"There's a lot of guys giving him hugs in there right now," Hale said.
Following the game, the Diamondbacks optioned 23-year-old reliever Dominic Leone, who was acquired with Castillo in the Trumbo trade, to Double-A Mobile. The team will activate reliever David Hernandez tomorrow before the series finale against New York.
4 -- The number of hits Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon has on the year after a single to left field in the fith inning on Saturday.
* Home plate umpire Mark Ripperger's night had already gone poorly. Earlier in the game, Eric Campbell's hands slipped off his bat, flinging it backward and into the neck of Ripperger. So one can imagine the ump's short temper when Hale ripped into him for a strikeout call on a full-count, outside pitch against Paul Goldschmidt that effectively ended the sixth inning. "I just went out and told him, hey, when Goldy argues I know it's not the right call," Hale said. "I know how hard it is as an umpire, he took a bat off the head tonight, it's not easy. (Colon) set up off the plate and (I) just didn't feel those were strikes. (Ripperger) had called them. He set a precedent."
Put this on the list of things you don't see everyday: http://t.co/BNQYhahExi #WebGem pic.twitter.com/EPNSQ3TvNm
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) June 7, 2015
* Even with reinstated third baseman Jake Lamb and starting shortstop Nick Ahmed coming off the bench on Saturday, the D-backs defense shined. Starting at third base but playing far from it in a shift during the first inning, Yasmany Tomas didn't look out of sorts when shortstop Cliff Pennington fielded a ball and hit Tomas standing on the second-base bag. Tomas gunned it to first for a 6-5-3 double-play, the first of four double-plays on the night. It goes to show how Tomas, who a day earlier started in right field, is comfortable no matter where he plays. "His instincts are great," Hale said. "I didn't really know that. Our people who had scouted him over in (the Dominican Republic) and Cuba, said, 'Yeah, he has very good instincts.'"
It was Bark at the Park night at Chase Field, which meant cute dogs staring at hot dogs.
So tempted. pic.twitter.com/GTEhkuVVQC
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) June 7, 2015
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