Ahmed 'felt good' in return to D-backs' lineup

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- For the first time in 10 days, Nick Ahmed was back at shortstop for the D-backs, playing five innings in a 7-7 tie with the Dodgers on Thursday at Salt River Fields.

"I felt good," Ahmed said. "You know, to be honest, I didn't miss much time at all. Everybody was talking to me in the dugout like I'd missed five months or something like that, but it just felt so good to be back out there and play and enjoy competing again."

Ahmed has been dealing with some tendinitis in his right patella. Although he's feeling good right now, he knows he'll have to make sure he stays up on daily maintenance to keep it that way.

"It's some stuff I've built into my routine now," he said. "I have to stay on top of it and probably will for a while. It's not something that's just going to feel perfect all the time, or go away completely right away. So I've been aware of that. I know that, so I feel like I have a good plan going forward that's going to help me minimize the discomfort and hopefully, get it fully cleared out by a couple months into the season."

Ahmed went 1-for-3 on the day.

Starting pitchers swap singles

Merrill Kelly lined a single to right field in the third inning, and when he saw Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts charging in on the ball, he knew there was a chance he would be thrown out at first.

As it turned out, he beat it out, but it was close.

"I was glad I didn't get thrown out at first," Kelly said. "I saw Mookie coming in pretty hard. I had to turn on the jets a little bit to make sure he didn't throw me out from right field."

The hit came off Dodgers starter David Price, whom Kelly knows from his time with the Rays.

Price had singled off Kelly in the second inning, smoking a line drive to left-center.

"He actually texted me this morning, asking if I was going to hit today," Kelly said of Price. "I told him, 'Yeah.' He actually had told me that he hadn't swung all camp, he had just been bunting. So when he put that swing on the ball, it was actually pretty surprising. I tried to look at him and say, 'You just sandbagged me.' He actually put a pretty good swing on a good pitch down and away."

McKay still out

First-base coach Dave McKay is still away from the team after suffering a broken rib and lacerated spleen in a dugout fall early last week.

"I spoke to Dave this morning," manager Torey Lovullo said. "He is continuing to rest and heal and battle through the frustrations of not being out here with the guys. It just tears him apart that he's not out here. But he's left his blueprint here with the other coaches, and we're picking up the slack until he gets back and joins us."

Watching the defense

With Kole Calhoun (knee surgery) expected to be out for a least the first week of the regular season, the D-backs have been looking at a host of candidates for right field.

Trayce Thompson, Pavin Smith, Daulton Varsho, Josh Rojas, Josh VanMeter and Wyatt Mathisen are among a list of candidates; Lovullo has been paying particular attention to one part of their performance.

"It's the defensive aspect that I've been really focused on," he said. "And I'm very pleased with everybody's pace, their [internal] clock and their ability to run balls down out there. So the race is still wide open. Everybody's getting after it. And you know, we'll probably do that up until the final day of Spring Training."

Up next

Left-hander Caleb Smith will get the start on Friday when the D-backs travel to Maryvale to take on the Brewers. Anthony Swarzak, Ryan Buchter, Yoan López and Tyler Clippard are also slated to pitch. Adrian Houser is scheduled to start for Milwaukee.