Robbie Ray could make rehab start Thursday

Diamondbacks left-hander Robbie Ray is tentatively scheduled to make a rehab appearance on Thursday with Single-A Visalia, manager Torey Lovullo said on Monday.

Ray, who has been rehabbing a right oblique strain suffered on April 29, threw a bullpen session on Monday at Chase Field and has fully healed from his injury, Lovullo said.

Lovullo added that the club will wait to evaluate Ray on Tuesday before definitively determining whether Ray will pitch in Visalia on Thursday. But right now the Diamondbacks are close to “taking the next step” with Ray’s rehab, Lovullo said.

Ray has not seen game action since his injury, and the Diamondbacks wanted to make sure the oblique was completely healed before sending the lefty out of town. In order to do this, the club had Ray undergo MRIs on a weekly basis to track the healing progress.

Lovullo said he learned a lot about Ray’s character during his recovery from a concussion suffered in July of last year when he took a 108.1 mph line drive off his head from Cardinals hitter Luke Voit.

“What I learned last year after he got hit on the head was that he’s a tremendous self-evaluator,” Lovullo said. “I developed a huge trust for what was coming out of his heart. He’s telling me the exact way that he’s feeling. We are kind of pulling him back to make sure he doesn’t have any setbacks.

“I think he’s letting everybody know that he’s ready for this next challenge to possibly go to Visalia. I have no doubt that he’s going to be ready.”

Update on Miller

Right-hander Shelby Miller gave up eight runs on 10 hits in a rehab start with Double-A Jackson on Sunday. It was Miller’s third rehab outing overall and his first with the Generals.

In three innings of work, Miller walked two batters and struck out four over 65 pitches. He threw 37 of those pitches in the first inning.

Lovullo said Miller will need at least one more rehab appearance before he is considered to rejoin the big club. That start could come on Saturday with Visalia.

Still, Miller’s stat line raised the eyebrows of his manager. Lovullo said he talked with Diamondbacks rehab pitching coordinator Brad Arnsberg, who assured him that Miller’s stuff was still good – he just got knocked around.

“I turned on my computer after the game and I saw that he had given up eight runs,” Lovullo said. “You’re immediately wondering what happened, but (Arnsberg) and he said the stuff was fine and everything was okay.

He just got clipped a little bit, he made some mistakes and he got squeezed a little bit. It was a combination of things that (happen) when you give up eight runs.”