"The lineup of Tim Wheeler, James Cesario and Ben Paulsen isn't exactly the kind Brandon Webb faced on his way to winning Cy Young Award for Arizona in 2006.

But for the Texas right-hander, Monday's Double A start against Tulsa is a sign of progress.

Webb made his first professional start since Opening Day of 2009, allowing five runs on eight hits in 31/3 innings for Frisco.

More important than the ugly linescore was the fact that Webb, who is trying to come back from shoulder surgery, came through the outing healthy.

"It was fun," Webb said. "It was different than Arizona [extended spring games]. I felt OK, which was the main thing. Basically the pitches they hit were up. I got out there and threw. It was more than I've done. These are the tests I needed to do."

Webb threw 77 pitches, with 47 of them strikes.

He allowed two runs in the first, one in the second, one in the third and another in the fourth before getting pulled with runners on the corners.

He struck out two, walked two and hit one.

Webb said his biggest problem was the inability to put away hitters. He had several two-strike counts but when he tried to go to his changeup to put batters away, it wasn't there.

Webb allowed four hits in the first inning, a frame in which he threw 32 pitches.

His velocity also topped out at 85 mph, which came as a surprise to Webb."