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PHOENIX (AP) -Arizona manager Bob Melvin seeks out pitcher Micah Owings on the days he isn't starting.
"We have a little running joke," Melvin said. "Before every game, I ask him if he has his spikes on. He has his spikes on in the first inning of every game."
Many pitchers wear comfortable running shoes in between starts. Owings isn't a typical pitcher.
He's batting .417 (10-for-24), and Owings knows that on any given night Melvin could summon him with the game in the balance, so he's always got his spikes on.
"I just kind of look at him and flip my shoe up," said Owings, who won the 2007 NL Silver Slugger Award for pitchers.
On April 29, Melvin called on Owings to pinch hit for fellow pitcher Brandon Medders with a man aboard and the Diamondbacks trailing Houston 7-5 in the sixth inning. The Astros brought in right-hander Dave Borkowski, and the righty-swinging Owings lined his first pitch into the right field seats to tie the game.
The Diamondbacks went on to an 8-7 victory, and the quiet-spoken Owings soon blossomed into a minor folk hero. It was the first pinch-homer by a pitcher since Milwaukee's Brooks Kieschnick hit one against Arizona on April 22, 2004.
"I knew he'd get some notoriety, get a little ESPN playtime," Melvin said. "But he's still getting it."
Owings' hitting has generated far more attention than his strong start on the mound, where he's 4-1 with a 4.33 ERA for the NL West leaders. Last year, his first in the majors, Owings hit .333 (20-for-60) with four home runs and 15 RBIs.
A year ago, all of Owings' homers came when he was pitching. His lone homer this season came as a pinch-hitter, so it didn't count toward his total as a pitcher. Owings is 2-for-6 as a pinch-hitter this season.
Wes Ferrell, who pitched from 1928-41, owns the record for homers by a pitcher with 37 (he hit another as a pinch-hitter), according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The highest batting average for a pitcher with at least 500 at-bats is .288, by George Uhle, who played from 1919-36, Elias said.
Owings is hitting .357 (30-for-84) in two seasons. But it's too early to mention him in the same breath as pitchers who were also dangerous at the plate - a list that includes Warren Spahn, who hit 35 career homers, and Don Newcombe, who had a career .271 average.
Teammate Conor Jackson jokingly refers to Owings as "Babe Ruth." The real Babe Ruth hit .299 with nine homers as a pitcher from 1914-1917, back in the dead ball era.
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