Image: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Spring isn’t all sunshine when it comes to battling for a spot on a 25-man roster for players, either.

The D’backs starting lineup is pretty much set heading into 2013 meaning the battles will be in the back end of the rotation, the bullpen and on the bench.

Miguel Montero, Paul Goldschmidt, Aaron Hill, Martin Prado, Chad Pennington, Gerardo Parra, Jason Kubel, Adam Eaton, Cody Ross and Willie Bloomquist are locks along with Ian Kennedy, Trevor Cahill, Brandon McCarthy and Wade Miley in the rotation. In the bullpen, JJ Putz, Heath Bell, David Hernandez and Brad Ziegler are also pretty much assured spots.

With the D’backs likely to carry 12 pitchers that leaves one starter, three reliever spots and three bench spots open.

Starting spot battle: Tyler Skaggs vs. Randall Delgado

Delgado was acquired in the Justin Upton trade along with Martin Prado. Delgado is probably projected for a back-end starter for his career and has solid stretches throughout his career so far. He owns a career 3.95 ERA over 127.2 innings in the majors. Skaggs has been a top-tier pitching prospect for a few years and appears to be ready to pitch a full season in the bigs. Skaggs owns a career 2.98 minor-league ERA. He did struggle a bit in his brief appearance with the D’backs last season with a 5.83 ERA over 29.1 innings.

Edge: Skaggs

Three bullpen spots: Patrick Corbin vs. Tony Sipp vs. Matt Reynolds vs. Josh Collmenter

Sipp and Reynolds have each spent quality time in the majors with solid results. Sipp has thrown 220.1 innings over the past four seasons with a 3.68 ERA and Reynolds has thrown 126 innings over the past three seasons with a 3.93 ERA. Reynolds and Sipp, both lefties, are solid bets to make the bullpen.

That leaves the final spot for Corbin and Collmenter to battle it out. Corbin is also a leftie and was effective over long stretches in the beginning of last season but then struggled down the stretch. Collmenter on the other hand, struggled mightily early and then picked it up as the season progressed. Edge: Collmenter

Bench Spots:

Back up catcher – Wil Nieves vs. Rod Barajas

Nieves was productive in limited time with both the D’backs and Rockies last season, hitting .301/.330/.410 over 89 plate appearances. On the other hand, Barajas was pretty awful in 321 plate appearances for the Pirates in 2012. He hit .206/.283/.343 for the season.

Edge: Nieves

With an outfielder and a utility player in Bloomquist on the bench already, the D’backs have some flexibility in the two remaining bench spots: Eric Chavez vs. John McDonald vs. Tony Campana vs. A.J. Pollock vs. Matthew Davidson

Edge: Chavez and McDonald

Barajas is back with the team which he began his major league career. Barajas played in Arizona from 1999-2003 and in those years with the D’backs, Barajas hit .219 with 11 home runs and 66 RBI’s over five seasons in the desert.

Apr. 17, 2012; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Rod Barajas swings against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The 14-year veteran has played with seven other organizations, spending last season in Pittsburgh. He hit .206 with 11 home runs and 31 RBI’s in 104 games with the Pirates last season.

Gaby Sanchez put the Pirates on the board first with an RBI groundout to the shortstop in the top of the fourth inning, scoring Andrew McCutchen and taking the lead 1-0.

Andrew McCutchen scored two runs for Pittsburgh on Monday evening in a 4-0 victory over Arizona. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-US PRESSWIRE

Both offenses would be kept in check until the bottom of the eighth inning when Neil Walker reached on an infield single to the shortstop, plating McCutchen and advancing Sanchez to second base. Sanchez would score in the next at bat when Travis Snider singled to right field to extend the Pittsburgh lead to 3-0. They would add another run when Walker would score from third base on a sacrifice fly by Pirates catcher, and former D-backs catcher Rod Barajas.

That would be plenty of offense for Pittsburgh starter Erik Bedard, who allowed no runs and only two hits over six strong innings pitched.

For Arizona, starter Wade Miley unfortunately received no support in six strong innings of work. He allowed only six hits and no earned runs while his defense gave up three errors on the evening. The only bright spot on offense for Arizona was first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who collected Arizona’s two hits on the night.

Arizona will send rookie Patrick Corbin to the mound tomorrow for game two of the four game series.