NL DIVISION SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS DODGERS

October 9, 2023

Torey Lovullo

Dodger Stadium

Arizona Diamondbacks

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Diamondbacks - 4, Dodgers - 2

Q. What did your guys show you the way they came out swinging again? And what are your thoughts where the series stands now with two wins in LA?

TOREY LOVULLO: Well, it told me that our team was ready to come out and play the game the way that we have been. We talked about making statements early. They have continued to maintain their competitive focus through any situation, days off, just doesn't matter. These guys are very hungry, and they feel like they have a lot to prove.

How do I feel about the wins here in LA? Obviously we feel good about it, but we will take nothing for granted. We will continue to stay humble and work very hard.

Q. I can't imagine it was an easy decision to lift Gallen the way you did, the way he's pitched for you all season, but the way your bullpen has pitched lately what went into the process there in the sixth inning?

TOREY LOVULLO: I wanted to flip that part of the lineup. We have some strategies that we've talked about as a group and some things that we strongly believe in.

Zac, I felt like he had maybe 10 to 15 more pitches, and if it was the middle of July, I would have 100 percent let him continue moving in that direction.

But you start to add and subtract and you're counting batters, I think the reason why we won this game because we didn't turn the lineup over to the fifth, at the top.

Our pitchers went out, did a great job, our bullpen. It started with Zac. He understood the move. I explained it to him before the inning, before he went out there.

All the personal stuff aside right now. It's about going out and winning a baseball game and he understood that.

Q. Back to that inning, how much of what you did there was to basically let -- you knew Doc was going to empty the bench with his right-handed hitters. Once you went back to your right-handed pitchers, he had no moves to make anymore.

TOREY LOVULLO: Right. That was the strategy, for sure. That conversation started when we saw they were 13 and 13 and had a four-man bench.

We were strategizing as a staff and as a group about what do we want lineups to look like, how are we going to try to maximize situations.

Look, their bench players are very good with Taylor, Hernandez, Barnes and Wong. Don't get me wrong; it's just that it lines up where the back end of our bullpen is very right-handed. And we want that matchup right on right whenever we can take it.

Q. And once you empty your bench in the sixth inning, there's no more moves to make for the rest of the game?

TOREY LOVULLO: Well, yeah. He did everything he had to, right? I think every manager would have done that. There's your one shot. You're trying to make a push there against Saalfrank, a rookie pitcher.

But at that point, it's an empty bench. Barnes is the last player, and you can pick your targets and matchups very well.

Q. What are you guys doing to keep Mookie and Freeman to 1-for-14?

TOREY LOVULLO: They're unbelievable baseball players. Obviously one I know very well. And we're making pitches. Our pitchers have been throwing the baseball very, very well. And you've got to because they're two of the best baseball players in the National League. I'm sorry, two of the best baseball players in MLB.

So you've got to make pitches. So I think our pitchers are sequencing and landing pitches in the right spot.

Q. Ketel's bunt in the first inning, was that called from the dugout?

TOREY LOVULLO: No. We talked about instinctual plays. We practice them. We talk about what certain sidelines might look like. And I know it was covered that in that particular count, in that particular situation, it's going to be open to you. If you feel good about it go ahead and take it.

Corbin walks to lead off the game. The bunt happens, it's first and second with your 3 and 4 hitter. You feel good about scoring some runs and playing down hill.

Q. In that first inning Tommy stole second base to eliminate the double play. Was the thinking there to eliminate the double play? What was that behind that call?

TOREY LOVULLO: Those were some of the conversations we had. If the ball is put on the ground we want stay out of a double play. But we've got to hit it, gotta clip it right.

We have some good base stealers on this team that have some keys. Clearly you saw what Walker did in the seventh or eighth inning, I don't remember exactly when it was.

But we're motivated to stay out of the double play. We felt Gabby was going to put the ball in play and it was going to give us the potential for the run with not hitting into a double play.

Look, and equally, detrimental, we ran into a big out, I think, in the fifth inning when Brasier came into the game. We have to be situationally aware when it's the right time, when it's the wrong time to try to steal a base.

Q. I wanted to ask you about the bunts. I saw more bunts tonight than I could see over a 10-game period in a regular season. Are people underestimating the bunt? And do you think we'll start seeing people re-evaluate when they see teams like you using the bunt?

TOREY LOVULLO: Potentially. I'm managing the team that we have. I understand the pieces. And I just felt like we wanted to continue applying some sort of pressure to lengthen the innings. The innings were moving rapidly.

Doc was using his A relievers and it was turning over. I felt if I could hold them off for another batter or two, apply a little bit of pressure that might change a little bit of the momentum.

So there's a strategy for why I was doing it, but I knew the players that I was asking to do it could execute it. Perdomo is an excellent bunter and I just wanted to get guys in scoring position.

To me that's playoff baseball. It's a different story during the season. Playoff baseball, one run, one play, one pitch could make a difference.

Q. Without giving up anything confidential when you talk to Zac and tell him, this is what we're going to do, what do you say to him? Do you tell him because it's the playoffs? Do you explain to him why you're doing it? And does he say anything to you, like I wish I could stay longer? Or how does that go?

TOREY LOVULLO: Zac is extremely competitive. I'll leave it right there. I caught him. I let him come down underneath. We were in the hallway behind the dugout. And I explained to him exactly the way I would have explained it to the pitching coach or bench coach. And he interprets that, he gets it, he understands it.

Now, he's got a fire in his belly like I've never seen. He wants to stay out there for as long as he possibly can but I went as far to say, I want to turn the lineup over to get all their right-handed batters into this game. And he heard that loud and clear.

Q. Not to talk too much on the sixth inning, but the inherent the risks of the strategy and you get the matchups you want later in the game, but what can you say about the execution from Saalfrank and Thompson that needs to happen for that strategy to pay off the way it did?

TOREY LOVULLO: Yeah, I think the players that I asked to be put into the game have been in that situation -- Saalfrank once and this was the second time. But leading up to that moment he had given me every reason to believe that he was going to put the ball on the plate and be able to execute.

It wasn't perfect for Andrew, but he bridged it over to the next level of guy that I wanted to use. And Thompson was able to get that big out.

So it wasn't perfect, but we did enough to hang on and get the job done. It's never a perfect science, right? I can follow the same strategy yesterday and the day before and it doesn't work. But I believe in it enough because they've shown me that they can go out there and collect those outs.

Q. Do you have a Game 3 starter to announce?

TOREY LOVULLO: Brandon Pfaadt will start Game 3 for us.

Q. What kind of advantage does it give you in today's game to have Merrill and Zac, who both get into the sixth inning. It's not Koufax and Drysdale, but today that's pretty good. Knowing that it's not going to be just today, that's pretty much what they do every time they go out there.

TOREY LOVULLO: It's a great luxury that I have. I'm very fortunate that I get to manage them on back-to-back nights. They are, like I said, extremely competitive. They have a fire in their belly that allows them to go out there and execute at a high level. And they never want to come out of games. They would throw 125 pitches if I let them.

But them going into that sixth or seventh inning allows me to be very creative with the back end of the bullpen. Once again, that's a great luxury that I have.

They're extremely consistent and very pitch-efficient, which allows them to pitch that deep into the game. They're very good pitchers.

Q. Corbin Carroll reached base four out of five times in the leadoff spot. What do you make of what he's done this postseason? And how much is he the catalyst for everything that your offense is doing?

TOREY LOVULLO: I think we try not to say that there's one target on our roster. We believe in being nine strong. But Corbin has an unbelievable knack for rising to the occasion, for understanding what the at-bat is asking for and then going out there and executing it.

I look at him often and I cannot believe he's 23 years old. I look at him often and I'm thankful that he's going to be a Diamondback for the next 10 years.

Q. Obviously had a great rookie year, but he's still a rookie. And to come out and hit .500 with 1.600 OPS in his first couple of playoff games, that's pretty impressive.

TOREY LOVULLO: It is. He worked extremely hard to put himself in that position, to be able to make adjustments, pitch to pitch and swing to swing. The league made an adjustment to him somewhere around the All-Star break. And I think he took it personal to go out and find a way to make days like today happen by learning and growing every single day during the season.

Q. Is Longoria okay?

TOREY LOVULLO: He's okay. X-rays were negative and he'll be day to day.