Arroyo's Streak Ends At 369 Straight Starts

Published: Tuesday, June 17, 2014 - 12:12pm

Bronson Arroyo had been one of baseball's most reliable pitchers during his 15-year career, fighting off a variety of ailments to take the ball every time his turn came up.

When his arm started to get sore and his velocity dropped, even he couldn't keep going.

The Arizona Diamondbacks placed Arroyo on the 15-day disabled list with elbow tendinitis on Monday, ending the right-hander's run of consecutive starts at 369, the second-longest active streak behind the 443 straight starts by Toronto's Mark Buehrle.

"He's had other times in his career when he's been able to overcome things like this, but it wasn't in the cards this time," Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said.

Arroyo has had a solid career with stops in Pittsburgh, Boston and Cincinnati. This offseason, he signed with the Diamondbacks, who hoped he could provide some stability to the rotation.

The 37-year-old struggled early in the season while trying to regain his strength after injuring his back during spring training, but rounded into form over the past month or so.

Arroyo went 3-0 with a 2.95 ERA over his last three starts, including a win over the Dodgers on Sunday, but had been using deception instead of velocity to get hitters out.

Arroyo is most effective when his fastball is in the upper 80s, but his velocity had dipped into the lower 80s, forcing him to work the corners and use more off-speed pitches.

Instead of sending him out for another start, the Diamondbacks decided to put him on the shelf so he could get healthy again.

"It's really unfortunate when it's a guy who has an unblemished record when it comes to posting up each and every time," Arizona GM Kevin Towers said. "But it would have been hard to run him back out there again, going to war as he says, against AK-47s with his little 22. He still found a way to win, which was amazing."

Arizona recalled outfielder Roger Kieschnick from Triple-A Reno to fill Arroyo's roster spot.