NL WILD CARD SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS BREWERS

October 4, 2023

Torey Lovullo

American Family Field

Arizona Diamondbacks

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Torey, I know what Zac is like during a game. How would you describe his kind of vibe, persona, the day of a game, the couple of hours before?

TOREY LOVULLO: Very focused, quiet. There's a lot of studying, a lot of game planning. I know that he'll have conversations with the people that are going to impact his day.

It's very structured, and he is very intense. It's not to say you can't break into a conversation and make him laugh, but he's got a purpose today. It's the same today as it normally is. Obviously we know the stakes are a little different, but he comes to the ballpark a little bit different on his start days.

Q. Sticking with Zac, kind of ups and downs of the last month, what kind of stands out to you about how he closed out the season?

TOREY LOVULLO: Yeah, I know the ups and downs have been documented. I'll stand on the good outings and focus on those because when he's on commanding the baseball, landing the secondary pitches, working on the game plan, he can pitch deep into the baseball game.

When it doesn't go well, I think the fastball command isn't where he wants it to be, and it's just a little bit more of a battle. No matter what type of stuff he has, he always keeps us in games, and that's what we ask our starting pitchers to do.

When they get into that rhythm and start really getting after it, of course, we can all be Zac watchers and enjoy it, but I want the offense to go and do their job. I want us to play fundamental baseball defensively and let Zac be Zac and see where that winds up taking us through the course of his outing.

Q. I think it's been a little while since you've had the same lineup on back-to-back days. What went into your thinking here?

TOREY LOVULLO: I just really liked what I saw yesterday, the stability of the lineup. In certain areas, I know we've talked about certain guys, and it performed. I think it's just playoff baseball.

When something good happens, you want to run it back. I think at points in time during this year, I was trying to be creative. I think when it calls for creativity, I've got to get outside of the box a little bit and not be so stubborn with staying with one thing that starts to become routine, so I would mix it up, but yesterday worked.

The stakes were a little bit different. I want the same group to go out there and compete.

Q. I don't know if you addressed this yesterday, but can you describe kind of what happened with McCarthy and the oblique and sort of the level of concern maybe just for him?

TOREY LOVULLO: I didn't get a chance to talk about that very much after the game last night, so I will go ahead and address it. Level of concern is high. He has an oblique strain. I think he will definitely miss time. It's not going to be days. It's going to be weeks.

That's why you have alternates that are standing by. Jace Peterson was on our team from the time he got traded over, had some meaningful at-bats, and he was able to slide right in.

I'll keep you posted on any additional alternates that will be joining us. We are planning on that, but we have to make that decision final.

But Jake was taking a swing -- I think it was his first round of BP. I was just visiting with him in right field as I do walking around in BP. I was out there joking around with him, and I got a tap on the shoulder five minutes later saying that he took his first couple of swings in BP and felt it pop.

I went and saw him in the training room. He looked very uncomfortable. At that point we were trying to determine what to do, who to fill in with. It was a fast-moving situation putting Jace on, but Jake is going to be down a little while.

Q. Just curious, how do you see Jordan Lawlar's role shaking out here on the postseason roster?

TOREY LOVULLO: Well, I think there's some defensive versatility. I think we can cycle through a couple of decisions on the infield and pinch-hit for guys or pinch-run for guys.

He'll primarily play shortstop, and I'll rotate guys around him. You have seen what I have done with Perdomo and putting him at third base.

There's a tremendous amount of speed. We feel like he can get on base and score first to home. He is going to be one of our pinch runners. We'll just cycle through some different versions of lineup changes or maneuverings that might take place. You'll find him in the lineup the back end of the game.

He is a trusted defender. The way I explained it to you guys when I started defensively replacing him earlier in the year when he got here is I feel like I have elite defenders besides him that I was going to lean on, but I trust Jordan defensively.

Will he get to start? I don't know. I can't say yes or no, but we have our guys, but he'll find himself in some games if we start to maneuver the lineup during a game.

Q. I was thinking back through some of your decisions from last night. Obviously there was are going to get Brandon in the third. That was maybe different from a regular season type of decision.

TOREY LOVULLO: Right.

Q. I felt like also the Nelson -- just how quick you reacted to the way that kind of unfolded. Could you kind of -- I guess you could have maybe stuck with him after the strikeout and hoped that he was about to turn that around, but you kind of just decided to make that change quick. What was going into your thinking there?

TOREY LOVULLO: A lot. The Brandon Pfaadt decision, I did that because Sean Casey recommended it on a pregame show, so tell the Case Man that he got in my head a little bit.

Q. What did he say?

TOREY LOVULLO: He just said that I probably have a short leash with Brandon Pfaadt because we have a gassed up bullpen. I'm like Sean Casey is paying attention. Let's go. The Case Man.

I scripted out a couple of different versions of what could happen prior to the game. This was if everything backed up -- yesterday's plan was if everything backed up and we got to a point where it wasn't going well, I'm not going to say Armageddon, but all heck was breaking loose, and it was.

I just felt like I start to chop up the lineup, and I start to talk about it with the pitching coaches and Bani about what does it look like in your mind and how do you feel about this, this, this and how does it chunk up here with this guy, this guy, this guy.

I just chopped it up a little bit, and it ended up working. The Ryne Nelson decision was for me at that time a no-brainer because he has been throwing the ball extremely well. All of his stuff had ticked up. We felt like he was commanding the baseball.

Maybe it was a case of nerves. I'm not sure. I don't think he has that in him. He has pitched at very high levels in college. He has pitched here in meaningful games all year long for us. I think there was some fastballs, and he was out of rhythm and out of line, and we couldn't afford to go any further with that. I wanted to put the ball on the ground. That was my mindset with Thompson coming in.

We had to put the ball on the ground. I feel like it was a really good matchup with Taylor, right-on-right, and that ball was either going to be a swing is a miss or ball on the ground.

But I trust Ryan. I do. I think he didn't feel it yesterday. He'll get another opportunity.

Q. Another bullpen question. This might be more for Hayes as well, but Ryan Thompson, again, give me your perspective on how he came to you guys?

TOREY LOVULLO: Yeah. He basically fell into our lap. I know it was a waiver claim. I tell you guys all year long that our front office is so good at just combing through things, and they're always trying to make us better no matter what time of year it is.

It seems to be a little amplified right around the trade deadline for the obvious reasons, but it goes well before that and well after that.

I just was told we picked up a right-handed pitcher by the name of Ryan Thompson. I got on the horn and started calling some people about usage, what kind of guy he was, and everybody that I talked to said he is going to fill up the strike zone and collect you some big outs.

I know his first outing I think it was -- I might have even saved -- he might have even saved a game or his first outing was three up and three down. It was a clean inning. Different arm angle. I started to develop a lot of confidence in using him. I think he senses that. He hasn't let us down.

Q. A chance to close this thing out tonight. What's the message to the team? Does it change whatsoever? I know sometimes you say you're a man of few words and they know what's at stake. I'm curious what the conversation is like in the clubhouse ahead of tonight's game?

TOREY LOVULLO: The conversations have been simple so far today. The team got in about 1:30 or so, 2:00. Just the normal greetings. Just trying to get some sight lines on these guys and see what they look like, and everything is very normal, which is what I want it to be.

I probably won't say anything to the team because they know. They're motivated. They should be. They know what's at stake. They know what they have to do, and I think they're very prepped and ready to go.

This is going to be a difficult game. It's a close-out game. Any time you have a close-out game against a quality team like the Brewers with an incredible manager, you better bring your A game and you better not take anything for granted.

I'll say it here right now, we have to go out and play our finest game. That's my expectation.

Q. This is pretty random, but I was just curious what was going on in that discussion with the umpires last night when there was like a pick attempt at first and then Santana looked like he might have been hurt. What was that from your perspective?

TOREY LOVULLO: I knew that Corbin called time-out. I said, there's still one disengagement because he disengaged I think prior to the first pitch or after the first pitch to the at-bat to Corbin. So I said, we have one disengagement and one mound visit, right, because I saw Counsell stop and kind of motion towards his pitcher or say something towards his pitcher. I wasn't sure what that was.

So I said, a mound visit and one disengagement. He said, correct. I think he went back to Counsell and said that -- I don't know what happened there, but it was a mound visit, and you have one disengagement.

Then Counsell protested. They came back to me and said, it wasn't technically a mound visit. I said, well, what did he say to him? He said something to him. He shared it with me, and it still doesn't make sense to me, but I had to accept the decision at that point.

Q. What was it like to see Ketel have a postseason moment yesterday after everything that's gone on the last few years with him?

TOREY LOVULLO: That was a clutch home run. You know, we were still celebrating and enjoying what happened with Corbin, and then Ketel just jumps on a pitch and pounds it over the right field wall to tie the score.

Great players do great things at great times. I think that's how he is built and how he is wired. He wants to be in that moment.

He is still learning how to get through that moment and have a lot of successes, but when he does, it's always very special for us to watch. He's a very talented player.

Beyond that, it was just matter of fact to him. That's what I'm supposed to do. Let's move on. Let's get through this next inning, next at-bat, and try to win a game. I think that was his mindset afterwards.