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At a time when the Arizona Diamondbacks‘ rotation is in flux , left-hander Patrick Corbin could do well to give them a good start Friday against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.

Arizona expects several injured starters to return soon, and roster decisions are coming. Corbin’s spot would not seem to be in jeopardy, but he is coming off some inconsistent performances.

In early May, he was 4-0 with a 2.12 ERA. He goes into Friday’s start with a 6-3 record and a 3.48 ERA and is expected to be matched against Pittsburgh’s Ivan Nova (4-5, 4.42).

Corbin has given up at least five runs in three of his past four starts, including five against the Pirates at home on June 11.

In his most recent outing, a 5-1 loss to the New York Mets on Saturday, he gave up all five runs on eight hits in six innings.

“Just a couple mistakes there,” Corbin said of the game against the Mets. “If I locate better, different outcome.”

Corbin, who is 1-2 with a 5.90 ERA in five career starts against Pittsburgh , hasn’t been completely off lately. He has 19 strikeouts in his past 16 2/3 innings.

But against the Mets he could not pinpoint his curveball or his fastball.

“I just thought the pitch sequencing was a little bit off, and I thought there were a lot of fastball mistakes out over the plate that were hit, and they were handled by the Mets,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “Didn’t really get to the secondary stuff the way he typically does, and I think it’s more a product of the game plan and sequencing.”

Lovullo hasn’t lost confidence in Corbin.

“Worrisome? No. Not an issue for me whatsoever. We know that the season is going to have good and bad moments,” he said.

The Diamondbacks (41-33) cruised to a 9-3 win in the series opener Thursday as the Pirates (36-38) lost for the third time in four games.

Pittsburgh dropped two of three last week at Arizona.

Nova was initially scheduled to start Thursday, but the Pirates opted to move everyone back a day when Wednesday’s game against Milwaukee was rained out, rather than do any shuffling with his rotation.

“This group right here has shown the ability to be flexible, to be resilient and also shown some benefits from an extra day (of rest) every now and then,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said.

It didn’t pan out that way. Chad Kuhl, who started the opener against Arizona after warming up several times Wednesday when there was false hope that the game against Milwaukee would be played , got rocked by the Diamondbacks for eight runs in two-plus innings.

Nova is coming off two good starts, going 2-0 with a 1.54 ERA since he was removed from the disabled list (sprained finger).

On Saturday, he struggled with his curveball, but it didn’t stop him from allowing just one run and five hits in six innings of a 6-2 win over Cincinnati.

“Even though I walked a couple guys, the fastball command is better than what it was before I hit the DL,” Nova said. “I think I’ve been able to control it a bit better. I think that’s been the key.”

Nova is 1-1 with a 4.00 ERA in three career starts against the Diamondbacks.

Joe Mauer didn’t receive any gifts for returning from a lengthy stint on the disabled list.

No, his reward was an immediate matchup against two-time Cy Young winner Corey Kluber.

”Yeah, welcome back, right?” Mauer said with a laugh.

The six-time All-Star returned to the lineup on Friday after missing 25 games with a strained neck and concussion-like symptoms sustained when he was injured diving for a foul ball last month.

And while facing Kluber might not be an ideal first step back, the struggling Twins, who have one of the league’s weakest offenses , were thrilled to have Mauer back in their lineup.

”It’s good for any manager to have a chance to put a guy like Joe’s name down there,” said manager Paul Molitor, who had Mauer batting first against Kluber in the opener of a three-game series against the AL Central-leading Indians. ”Yeah, he’s in a good place, he’s excited to be here and we welcome him back. Hopefully, he can give us a little bit of a boost.”

The Twins came in seven games under .500 and batting just .238 as a team. They also entered the series with only three runs in the past 19 innings.

That’s not ideal against Kluber, who is 5-0 with a 0.76 ERA against the AL Central this season.

”Obviously, he’s one of the best in the game,” Mauer said. ”That’s the big leagues. You’re going to face the best night in and night out. It’s a tough matchup first game, but the one tomorrow (Carlos Carrasco) is pretty tough, too. I’m just excited to be back.”

Mauer has been symptom-free for a week. He went hitless in 10 at-bats over three games in a rehab stint with Triple-A Rochester , but the three-time batting champion feels ready to go.

”It’s been going good,” said Mauer, who was batting .283 with one homer and 11 RBIs when he got hurt. ”Obviously, I went down there and got in a couple of games and did everything I had to do to get back here. I’m excited to check off those boxes, get a couple of at-bats and play in the field for nine innings.”

Mauer said he didn’t have to make any diving stops in the field at Rochester, and that he won’t alter his game just because of the recent injury.

”My experience is when you try to do that you end up getting hurt,” he said. ”I got the full clear to go and I’m excited for that.”.

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