Hoover tossed a scoreless inning in relief during Thursday's 6-2 win over the Padres.

EDGE Analysis

Though the Diamondbacks held a four-run lead when Hoover entered the game in the top of the ninth inning, his appearance did bear some resemblance to a save situation and perhaps gave manager Torey Lovullo a glimpse of how the right-hander would perform in such a scenario. In generating three groundball outs in 12 pitches, Hoover seemingly aced the test, and it appears likely that he'll be the leading candidate to close out games in the event that the struggling Fernando Rodney is removed from the role. Rodney has converted 6-of-7 save chances this season, but owns a bloated 11.00 ERA and 2.11 WHIP to go with a 11:5 K:BB ratio over nine innings.