Diaz starts in center

Cox wanted to give the rookie center fielder a day off. (Schafer replaced Diaz for defense in the sixth inning and played the rest of the way.)

With Omar Infante on the disabled list with a broken hand, the Braves had no backup center fielder. Cox decided the best option was left fielder Diaz.

"He played [center] in the minors," Cox said before Saturday's game.

Diaz, 31, said it had probably been five or six years since he played center.

"Maybe in Triple A; for sure in Double A," he said. "But I don't know if I ever started [in center]. I'd move over from right in the late innings for defense."

If he hadn't lost 20 pounds on the P90X workout plan last winter, he might not have been a candidate to play center.

"Ninety days and you, too, can be a big-league center fielder," joked Diaz, who was happy to make the move over for a day to give Schafer some rest.

"It'll be fun," Diaz said, smiling. "Fly balls are fly balls."

Right fielder Jeff Francoeur had more-recent center-field experience than Diaz, but Francoeur is bigger than he was when he played center in the minors.

"Either Bobby thinks I'm too slow, or he thinks Matt would be worse in right field than in center," Francoeur joked.

Diaz didn't have any problems — or many chances — during the game, despite Chase Field having one of the largest outfields. He caught a fly ball by the second batter in the first inning and had no other chances.

Schafer entered in the bottom of sixth, with Diaz's spot in the batting order not due up again until the eighth or ninth inning.

Schafer didn't know until he got to the ballpark that he wouldn't be in the lineup. The energetic 23-year-old said he would lift weights during the game.

Before Saturday, he hit .177 with no homers and 57 strikeouts in 141 at-bats in his past 43 games.

"Mentally, I'm tired," Schafer said. "Physically, I'm fine. Mentally, maybe it's good for me to have a day off."