DENVER – With several of his pitching decisions backfiring, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo has found himself frequently second-guessed after games in recent weeks.
General Manager Mike Hazen didn’t address any specific decisions, but he believes Lovullo has generally put his pitchers in positions to succeed, even if the results haven’t lined up at times.
“I think he’s done a good job,” Hazen said. “I think when you’re in these situations every night, the focus and the attention always comes down to a particular move that maybe doesn’t work out. I just don’t think you can evaluate all the time how a manager is making those decisions based on outcome. Because if it was the right process and the right guy in there and you got beat, that’s a choice you would make again.
“If you step back at the end of that night and say, ‘I would make that choice again tomorrow if it was the same situation,’ then you have to accept the result. It’s too hard day to day in baseball to go back to what the result was and then say it was the wrong decision. I don’t buy that.”
During a four-game series at Dodger Stadium two weeks ago, Lovullo let starter Zack Greinke pitch into the eighth inning, at which point he gave up the go-ahead home run. Later that series, he opted for reliever Archie Bradley in place of closer Brad Boxberger, then let Bradley pitch to Matt Kemp, who delivered a game-winning hit off Bradley for the second consecutive day.
Lovullo also went back to Boxberger in the 10th inning in a tie game against the Braves over the weekend only to watch as the Braves scored the go-ahead run.
“When you get into this many close games and you get in a little run where they’re hitting home runs against you late, it’s a hard thing for the other team to do,” Hazen said. “You’ve got to give a little credit there when you get beat that way, but you also have to step back and evaluate what we’re doing and if we need to make some adjustments on those things, which I think we have done.”
Boxed out
Boxberger said it wasn’t surprising he lost the closer’s job, noting that “something (had) to change” with the way the club had been losing games in the late innings.
But Boxberger also suggested that the way the club had been handling the ninth inning recently had contributed to his struggles.
“I think there’s always that possibility when it gets down to that,” he said, when asked if he could see the change coming, “but definitely the added pressure of trying to be perfect out there definitely didn’t help me at all.”
Last month, the club began using lefty Andrew Chafin to open the ninth when lefties were due up, and Lovullo also twice had a quick hook before Boxberger had even given up a run.
“I know I’m better than the pitcher that I’ve been the last couple weeks, but, I mean, a lot of us down in that bullpen haven’t had the best month in these last couple of weeks,” Boxberger said. “It’s just a stretch that we’re going through. It sucks that we’re going through it now in September with games running out, but we’re still in it and there’s still games to be won.”
Bouncing back
A day after he did not retire any of the three batters he faced in his major league debut, right-hander Yoan Lopez was back on the mound on Monday night, recording the final out of the eighth inning against the Rockies.
Lovullo said he did not want Lopez having to sit on his brutal debut for so long.
“I thought that would be a good place for him to start to build confidence,” he said.
As for why he brought him into Sunday’s game when he did – Boxberger had just blown a ninth-inning lead and Lopez had to face the top of the Braves’ order – Lovullo said he thought he was well-equipped for it given what he’d heard from the club’s player development department.
“The quality of his stuff, the heartbeat, the ability to execute a game plan, not back down out of the strike zone, command the ball,” Lovullo said. “We felt like he did that, he just got banged around.”
READ MORE
Reach Piecoro at (602) 444-8680 or [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @nickpiecoro.
Be the first to comment