NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS PHILLIES

October 21, 2023

Torey Lovullo

Chase Field

Arizona Diamondbacks

Pregame 5 Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: First question for Torey.

Q. Torey, it's cool to watch, right? Is there any pleasure for you as a manager in these kinds of games? This isn't just like you have four home run hitters that just go up there and maul. You're up 8-0, and you cruise on in. You have to be locked in the whole time. Would you rather it be the other way? Are you enjoying it this way? What's it been like for you?

TOREY LOVULLO: First of all, it's time of the year where you are hoping everybody is doing their job to the best of their ability, right? But I enjoy watching us perform because I think we're a good baseball team. We are 26 players strong. Everybody understands their roles and knows what they have to do to get to that point to help this team win a baseball game. It's all about doing your job.

Don't get me wrong, the Phillies are an unbelievable team and one through nine, they can knock the ball out of the ballpark at any time. We just want to have more than just the long ball in our tool bag. They do too. I don't want to feel like I'm insulting them, but we can hit home runs. We have hit home runs. But I think what we rely on is just having a high baseball IQ, winning the margins, and executing at a high level no matter what the circumstance is. That includes defense.

Offensively we have an identity to grind you down a little bit, have a consistent at-bat, have an all-field approach, and then have somebody come up and slug or get that big base hit at the most critical point in time.

I prefer the way we do it because it's an entire engagement by the entire team, and everybody is all in.

Q. What have you been seeing out of Saalfrank lately? It seems like he's not had the same command he did.

TOREY LOVULLO: We're still getting to know him a little bit, right? He has been a strike thrower in the Minor Leagues. I think the league has made an adjustment to him, and they're not chasing those borderline pitches. He might be showing a little frustration on the mound.

Those are conversations that we're going to have with him, or I intend on having with him at some point during the day today. And just blocking out all the noise and going out there and executing.

For me I thought his best pitches of the inning were thrown to Harper. The 3-0, 3-1, and the foul ball 3-2. Sp I think something triggered in him where he started to be aggressive.

So a couple of things. Fight through the moments that don't go well, and then continue to be aggressive and stay on the attack. That will be something that I get to with him today.

Q. A couple of questions on the offensive side. It was the 18th batter that Wheeler faced in Game 1, Perdomo, got the home run and got you going a little bit. What's the key to having that type of at-bat quality earlier in the game against Wheeler?

TOREY LOVULLO: He's a really good pitcher. He's a stud, and we have our work cut out for us. We have a game plan, and we have to make adjustments through the course of the game and get engaged quickly.

I don't want to have to wait and be down 3-0 or 5-0, whatever the score was when Perdomo finally did hit that ball. But we've seen him, there's some familiarity, and it was less than a week ago, so I think our guys are going to be ready to go back up there and make adjustments a little bit quicker.

But we have the utmost respect for his ability to execute. He is going to probably make an adjustment to his game plan and stay one step ahead of our adjustments. I think that's what quality pitchers do.

We just have to see the ball in the area that we're looking. There's a definite game plan against him, and we can't miss the pitch we're looking for.

Q. With Alek, how was he different either mechanically or mentality-wise after he came back from the Minor Leagues?

TOREY LOVULLO: His makeup is off the charts. He is just so easygoing and chill, and he has a mentality that -- it's a football mentality. He grew up playing football, and he is just a tough kid. He wants to win everything that he does, and he can separate it and have some fun and step away from the moment and then re-engage when he is supposed to. I think his makeup is a separator for him.

Part two, I think he was very jumpy when he first came to the Big Leagues. There was a lot of movement with his lower half. He's learned how to slow that down.

I still think he's a work in progress, but he has made some quality adjustments that's allowed him to see the ball a little bit longer and enable him to do things like he did yesterday.

Q. How tough is it for you to go to sleep after a game like last night, and do you watch highlights of the home run or look at videos?

TOREY LOVULLO: Yeah, I'm wound up pretty tight after the game. I didn't probably go to bed until very late. I was with my wife and her best friend, her husband, and their children playing Pop-a-shot in the man cave and had a couple of drinks that weren't water or Gatorade and kind of just enjoyed the moment and listened to their conversations because they're fans too. I just was paying to attention to what they were saying. I heard the excitement.

Yeah, I did start to watch some highlights, right? The sports stations are on the TVs downstairs, and yeah, I found myself watching the home run three or four times. It was a good feeling. I wanted to feel as good as I possibly could because we all enjoyed that.

Q. The other day you said time of year, egos aside, personal things aside. Having said that, what's the conversations like with Tommy as you pinch-hit for him a few times, and does it help that Pavin keeps coming through?

TOREY LOVULLO: It's not a popularity contest for me. I have to make tough decisions. That's why I'm put in this seat. So I have to do what's best for the team, and I have to put 26 ahead of one, two guys that aren't used to having things done like that.

He's a competitor. Tommy wants to be out there from the first pitch until the last, and he never wants to come off the field. I respect that. I respect Tommy Pham, and I love him. I think at the end of the day, he understands that if it's somebody else besides him for right now in the small little snapshot of where we're trying to get to, he's going to go out there and root on his teammates.

I know he was upset yesterday. I know he was upset about the decision that were made involving him, but like I said, at the end of the day, I have to do everything I can to win a game.

Q. Just looking at some research the last couple of days, kind of jived with what you were doing earlier in the series, where it talked about the penalty for seeing especially your high leverage relievers in a seven-game series too frequently. The penalty for that is more even than the third-time-through-the-order penalty. I was just wondering your thoughts on that, and if some of your internal research informs some of the decision you've made in the series.

TOREY LOVULLO: You know, some people ask me even inside of that clubhouse why I didn't put in Sewald, Ginkel, Thompson, Saalfrank. I think I didn't use -- I can't remember Game 1 in the 5-3 loss why I didn't go with the frontline guys. I just knew that we had six games left in a very short amount of time, and I was trying to preserve those guys for when we really needed them.

I have gone back-to-back. I know that. I know what happens when certain guys go back-to-back-to-back, but we were all in yesterday. We had to win that baseball game. That was our mindset. We were very determined to go out there and do all we could.

I had to make good decisions to let the players know that I was on board with that as well. We understand there are penalties. The players are walking in right now. We'll get some updates and rundowns on how they're feeling.

We'll plug things into the model that you know that we have, and we're full throttle again today. To me fatigue is a state of mind, and if you want it bad enough, you're never tired. I said that to you guys yesterday, and I'll continue to say it as we move forward.

I know it's very risky, but we had to get to today. We didn't want to get run out of this building, and I think our guys responded.

Q. Going back to Alek's homer yesterday just for a second, did it surprise you at all that he was able to pull a ball that was on kind of the far outside corner of the plate?

TOREY LOVULLO: Yeah, I saw it, how the fastball will run. It was up out over the plate. Kimbrel's got a rise on his fastball. That's what's made him so effective for so many years.

No, it doesn't. These players, these kids, they train so hard to hit all pitches at all times in any part of the strike zone and especially at or near the top bar.

As far as it being a pull home run, I think certain people will say that hitting the ball the opposite field for them is somewhere in the middle just based on their approach and what they're trying to do per pitch or per at-bat. Going the other way doesn't necessarily mean you're going to hit the ball down the left field line.

I think he stayed through that ball and back spun it and probably hit it in the right direction where he is able to slug it the way he did.

Q. Beyond just improved fastball command to the Phillies key lefty bats, what are the things you're looking for with Zac today?

TOREY LOVULLO: Just to get on a good run and get on a good Zac run. Let us start Zac watching -- Gallen, of course.

I love nothing more than when he is starting to attack and feels good that he is striding on and off the field with that special swagger. That's what I'm looking for.

It is attacking holes, weaknesses, staying with his strengths when he can, and having some quick, easy innings. I know that he has a lot to prove. I don't think if you ask him, he's going to say he threw the ball okay last time, but I know deep down something is burning inside of him.

Q. Zac without a K?

TOREY LOVULLO: Right.

Q. Going back to Game 3, did you talk to Pavin about the base running mistake in the ninth and why it happened?

TOREY LOVULLO: I barked at Pavin, and then I allowed the coaches to coach it up. I barked at the coaches a little bit louder, and I allowed them to go out and do their job. I was ready to get after everybody.

And this is when I feel like I have the best bench coach in baseball, somebody that's been hand-crafted for me. He understands me. He gets me. I was in my office, and I was getting ready to tear down the hallway to go talk to people. And he basically stopped me and put his hand on my chest and said, we're good, man. I got this.

So when tells me that that I trust like that, I know we're good, so I didn't have to go any further than that.

Q. Do you know what happened? Was it just like a brain cramp?

TOREY LOVULLO: It was.

Q. Was he watching the play at the plate?

TOREY LOVULLO: It was just a foggy mistake. That happens every once in a while. This is postseason baseball. You can't blink. And we've talked about that and rehearsed it in Spring Training over and over and over again. The sign, he knew the sign. It's a simple sign.

We have to be better, and we will be.

Q. Do you have any sort of expectations tonight on Zac where you are going to let him go a little longer because of how much you've used the bullpen in the last couple of days?

TOREY LOVULLO: Yeah, potentially. Not 115 pitches, though. Not 120. It's going to be within reason, and I'll be considerate of his up-downs and the amount of work he has had to do per inning to get so that point.

If I get some news that we have some down relievers, which I doubt we will, my mindset is everybody is going to be available. Then I might ask Zac to go a little bit extra. But I'll try to do the best I can to help us win the game.

Q. If he asks you to stay in the game, which he always does, you might consider it?

TOREY LOVULLO: Yeah, if Zac Gallen is doing his thing and we're all Zac watching, absolutely. Absolutely.

You got me. This is not a court of law, Barry. At the end of the game if I do something different, you're getting the first question. I know what you are going to ask. All right? I will just say I struck it from the record. I struck this last comment I made from the record that was made.