Skaggs sharp again for Diamondbacks

Former first-round pick Tyler Skaggs has made only two appearances this spring, but he already appears to be in midseason form.

The teenage left-hander tossed three innings of scoreless relief Friday as the Diamondbacks rallied past the Dodgers, 6-3, in a charity game at Tucson, Ariz.

Skaggs struck out two, allowed one hit, walked a batter and was instrumental in the comeback, both on the mound and at the plate.

The 19-year-old entered in the seventh in relief of Armando Galarraga with the D-backs trailing, 3-2. Pitching before a sellout crowd of 10,820, he worked around a one-out double by Hector Gimenez by inducing back-to-back groundouts.

Arizona plated three runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead, with Skaggs helping his own cause. He executed a squeeze bunt to plate Cody Ransom with the tying run, then scored the D-backs' fifth run on Gerardo Parra's one-out single to left field.

Skaggs, acquired from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the Dan Haren trade last August, took care of the rest, facing just one batter over the minimum the rest of the way.

He walked Jamey Carroll in the eighth but got two more groundouts to escape the inning. Corey Smith reached on an error to start the ninth, but Aaron Miles grounded into a double play to end the threat.

Skaggs retired seven of the 11 batters he faced on ground balls, with only one batter -- Gimenez -- able to get the ball out of the infield. He improved to 2-0 while maintaining a perfect ERA.

In his spring debut Sunday, Skaggs struck out four and scattered two hits over three shutout innings against the Athletics. A year ago, he went 8-4 with a 3.61 ERA in 19 appearances for Class A Cedar Rapids, then was 1-1 with a 1.69 ERA in four starts for Class South Bend.

Selected 40th overall in the 2009 Draft, Skaggs is expected to start the season at Class A Advanced Visalia.