D-Backs notebook: Rauch to be 8th-inning setup man

Bob Melvin defined his bullpen roles Wednesday, saying Jon Rauch will be the primary eighth-inning setup man in front of closer Brandon Lyon.

“That’s fine with me,” Rauch said.

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“I’m not going to approach it any differently. I’ll still pitch a lot of innings when the game is on the line.”

Rauch converted 17 of 22 save opportunities while sliding effortlessly into the role in Washington after Chad Cordero suffered an early injury.

Lyon has converted 20 of his 25 save opportunities this season, and went more than two months without giving up a lead starting April 9.

Tony Pena will pitch the seventh inning and Chad Qualls the sixth, Melvin said, although the order could vary depending on workload.

Lyon was unavailable Monday after pitching three straight days against Los Angeles, so Qualls got his second save with a scoreless ninth inning in a 2-0 victory.

Rauch was one of the most dependable setup men in baseball the previous two seasons, with 51 “holds” in 173 games while going 12-9 with six saves for the Nationals. Holds are calculated for setup men the same way saves are for a closer.

Lyon had a major league-high 35 holds as Jose Valverde’s setup man last season. Rauch had 33, tied for third.

“I was just pitching 15 minutes later” as a closer this year, Rauch said.

JOHNSON MAKES MORE HISTORY

Randy Johnson set another major league record with his second-inning strikeout of the Cubs’ Aramis Ramirez on Monday.

It was Johnson’s 2,000th strikeout with the D-Backs, making him the only pitcher in major league history with 2,000 strikeouts for two franchises. He had 2,162 with Seattle from 1989-98, and with four Monday has 2,003 with the D-Backs.

Nolan Ryan, one of the other three major leaguers with 4,000 career strikeouts, had 2,416 with the Angels and 1,866 with Houston.

HUDSON NOT SERIOUS

Orlando Hudson was held out Wednesday after being hit by a pitch on the right ankle in the eighth inning Tuesday, but Melvin said Hudson is better than 50-50 to start in San Francisco on Friday, the first game of a 10-game road trip.

“That was scary. It hit him right on the bone, but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be today,” Melvin said.

SHORT HOPS

Juan Cruz (left oblique strain) is scheduled to pitch two rehabilitation games at Triple A-Tucson, against Iowa on Friday and Omaha on Monday. Both games are at TEP. Melvin said Cruz likely then will rejoin the D-Backs during their West Coast road trip. They will be in San Diego through Wednesday before playing four in Los Angeles on July 31-Aug.3. …

Max Scherzer pitched two hitless innings of relief for Tucson on Wednesday, striking out one and giving up one walk. It was his second appearance since missing five weeks (right shoulder fatigue). Scherzer was 0-2 with a 2.90 ERA in 10 appearances with the D-Backs earlier this season and is a candidate to return once he builds up arm strength and stamina.