Diamondbacks' Paul Sewald: Another run-free outing

Sewald struck out two over a hitless and scoreless inning in Monday's spring game against Oakland.

Sewald made his fourth Cactus League appearance and left a scoreless spring intact after pitching a perfect seventh inning. His velocity was down compared to last season, per Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports, but manager Torey Lovullo downplayed that as the normal ramping up through the course of spring training. Additionally, none of the 14 pitches (nine strikes) he threw were a changeup -- a pitch he's incorporating to his arsenal this spring to prevent batters from keying in on his fastball. "I need something to drop to make my fastball look even more like it rises," Sewald told Jesse Borek of MLB.com about the new pitch. "So that's kind of the point -- that people can't cheat to my fastball." Sewald's allowed two hits and one walk while striking out three over four scoreless spring innings as he prepares to be Arizona's closer.