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Diamondbacks’ Haren pleased with fastball

Hurler allows 1 run in 4 1/2 innings

Dan Haren had his strongest outing of the spring for the Arizona Diamondbacks, even letting loose with a few full-speed fastballs before calling it a day.

Haren allowed a run and four hits in 4 1/2 innings, and a Diamondbacks split squad beat the Chicago White Sox 7-6 in 10 innings on Tuesday.

Haren, coming off a career-best 16-win, 206-strikeout season, fanned three and walked none. The right-hander threw 52 pitches, 39 strikes, and was dominant after giving up a run in the first inning.

He retired the last 10 batters he faced after allowing a leadoff double to Dayan Viciedo in the second inning.

“Kind of a funky first inning, a couple of softly hit balls that seemed to find holes,” Haren said, “but after that I felt real good. My fastball command was there. I let a few pitches go there in the fifth inning. I let a few fastballs go, which I really hadn’t done yet.”

Clayton Richard, whose spot in the White Sox rotation depends on the health of Jose Contreras and Bartolo Colon, worked four scoreless innings before surrendering a two-run homer to Ryan Roberts in the fifth.

Richard allowed two runs and three hits in five innings. He struck out one, walked one and hit a batter, throwing 69 pitches, 41 for strikes.

The left-hander will be a long reliever if Contreras and Colon are ready to go when the season starts.

“In no way do I control what their progress is,” Richard said, “so what I try to do is worry about myself and what I can do to get better and take control of what I can control.”

Ex-Arizona Wildcat Tony Clark hit the ball off the center-field wall twice against Richard. On the first, he was easily thrown out at second, not even sliding. The second time, the 36-year-old Clark sped up a bit and slid in ahead of the throw, exhausted, to the cheers of the crowd.

Haren got some help from his defense after Viciedo doubled in the second. Chad Tracy fielded ex-Arizona Wildcat Brian Anderson’s sharp grounder to third, then threw to first for the out. Clark fired the ball back to third, where shortstop Stephen Drew tagged out Viciedo trying to advance.

“From then on I was in a groove,” Haren said. “That’s the kind of stuff that happens during the season, too. You need like one little play that can just turn the momentum of the game.”

The White Sox scored two runs off Scott Schoeneweis in the eighth and three off Jon Rauch in the ninth to force extra innings. Ollie Linton, borrowed from Arizona’s minor league camp, scored the winning run on Lance Broadway’s wild pitch.

Scherzer struggles

PHOENIX – Max Scherzer recorded just two outs in a rough spring debut for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Scherzer allowed five runs, one earned, and three hits as an Arizona split squad lost 11-3 to the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday. The right-hander also committed a costly throwing error on a comebacker in the first inning.

Scherzer, the Diamondbacks’ No. 5 starter, had been out with a sore shoulder.

Sean Gallagher pitched four scoreless innings for Oakland. He allowed three hits, struck out two and walked one.

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