ST. LOUIS -- Saturday would have been Rubby De La Rosa's regular day to start, but with the pair of off-days in a five-day stretch, the D-backs decided one pitcher should be skipped. With De La Rosa nursing a couple of minor injuries, the D-backs went with him.
De La Rosa (4-4, 3.53 ERA), who has two straight quality starts, will be reinserted into the rotation on Wednesday in Pittsburgh. Robbie Ray gave up two runs over five innings in Saturday's 6-2 loss to the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
"Tough to do it," manager Chip Hale said of skipping De La Rosa, who had been on a roll. "He had those nagging little injuries. It just came down to the situation where Rubby had had that tight triceps, the tight groin. He had the blister thing, which, I think, talking to the training staff, is pretty regular for him. He creates so much friction with the velocity."
Worth noting
• Chris Owings' nine-pitch at-bat, which resulted in an eighth-inning single during Friday's win, drew high praise from Hale.
"That at-bat last night was as good of an at-bat as we've had as a team all year," Hale said. "And probably his best Major League at-bat, against a really good, quality reliever in [Jonathan] Broxton. Just fouling off the tough sliders and staying with the ball and going back through the middle."
Owings fell behind 0-2 before taking two pitches for balls. He then fouled off four pitches before finally singling up the middle on a 2-2 slider from Broxton.