D-Backs notebook: Young day-to-day with injury; Johnson, Quentin progressing

The season has just begun and already the injuries are mounting. The count of downed contributors reached four Sunday when center fielder Chris Young suffered a strained groin.

He was unavailable Monday and the Diamondbacks are considering his availability on a day-to-day basis.

“The way he was moving around today would suggest not a (stint on the) DL,” manager Bob Melvin said. “But groin strains you’ve got to be cautious with them.”

The weekend brought good news on two other injured players, Randy Johnson (back) and Carlos Quentin (left labrum).

Johnson threw 73 pitches, 58 for strikes, while allowing two runs on four hits in six innings of a minor league start in Modesto, Calif., on Sunday.

Melvin said Johnson’s intensity was limited to 70 to 80 percent. That will tick up considerably in an anticipated start in Tucson Friday. If all goes well, he could make his season debut April 19 in San Diego.

Johnson declined comment Monday, but on Sunday in Modesto he told reporters, “It’s kind of hard to gauge how successful you really are when you’re pitching against minor league kids because they’re so aggressive, it’s hard to set people up. “But overall, I feel comfortable.”

Quentin took batting practice for the second consecutive day Monday and is expected to do so again today and Wednesday. He could begin a rehabilitation stint as early as this weekend. “It’s not all finalized, but it’s looking good for some (at-bats) this week,” Quentin said. Jeff DaVanon is also on the DL.

WARM WELCOME

After four days in frigid Washington, the Diamondbacks were happy to return to the desert.

They weren’t the only ones to run into foul weather in the season’s opening week. The Reds’ last five games were played in temperatures in the 30s and Saturday’s night game had to be moved to the afternoon.

Cold and wet weather postponed an entire four-game series in Cleveland. The Indians are moving their next series to Milwaukee where they will play in the Brewers’ roofed Miller Park.

Meanwhile, Chase Field — with a retractable roof available to hold out Chamber of Commerce weather — sat idle during the season’s first week.

“There are 162 games involved and I know it’s challenging for the schedule makers,” Melvin said. “The way things happened in Cleveland and so forth it doesn’t look great. But that’s not my job description and I’ll play where they tell me to play.

“It ended up being a good trip for us.”

The cold weather may have impacted a few at-bats, including some of Eric Byrnes’, that resulted in deep fly balls rather than home runs. Regardless of the weather, the Diamondbacks entered play Monday tied for second among major league teams with 36 runs scored.

“I think had we been playing (in Arizona) or somewhere on the West Coast we’d have some better offensive numbers,” Melvin said. “There were quite a few (home runs) that were probably taken away by that (Washington) ballpark.”

SHORT HOP

Reliever Juan Cruz was cleared to pitch Monday after two days spent resting a muscle strain.