MLB WORLD SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS RANGERS

October 27, 2023

Torey Lovullo

Globe Life Field

Arizona Diamondbacks

Postgame 1 Press Conference

Rangers - 6, Diamondbacks - 5 (11)

Q. Obviously you guys have been in some tough spots this postseason. You've battled back after all of them. What's your message to the team after this one?

TOREY LOVULLO: The same as it always is. We played a pretty good baseball game. We were in a position to win it. We did a lot right. Let's improve on the things that we need to tighten up and come out tomorrow and play our finest game.

That's all we can do. That's how we've looked at it all season long.

It's frustrating. This is how the game goes sometimes. And we've got to find a way to be resilient and adaptable and come out with a clean mind and do our best.

I have every reason to believe we will. We've done it a lot this year.

Q. Seager always comes up big in these big moments but -- what was in your mind at that moment when he came up to the plate, what were you thinking about?

TOREY LOVULLO: Big-time players do big-time things in big-time moments. He came through. I'm still trying to figure out -- I haven't seen the video and the data if we hit our spot or not, but he just clipped us. He got us.

What am I thinking? That we've got to make pitches and be careful because he's done this at a very high level for a very long time.

Q. Basically you were going along script there with a few bumps -- Ginkel wasn't that sharp tonight -- but what was the shock level in the dugout the way that transpired in the last few innings?

TOREY LOVULLO: Yeah, you don't anticipate giving up a two-run home run and tying the score in the bottom of the ninth inning with one out. You're kind of counting it backwards and you're thinking in a very positive way.

So the shock factor was very high, but I sat back down and reminded myself, this is the World Series for a reason. The best players are here on the stage and the best players do big-time things.

So I feel like we did script it pretty well. It was pretty close to what we talked about when Zac got through five and looked really good and everybody was stepping up.

I thought Paul threw the ball well. He just made some mistakes in that at-bat. The Taveras at-bat was clearly a big one as well. And we got clipped.

Q. Castro?

TOREY LOVULLO: Castro, we talked about that for a couple of days, that being a favorable matchup for us if it came down to that, that he would be able to make pitches on him and try and prevent a little extension. It was just a middle-middle pitch and he did his job.

Q. When your team walked 10 batters is it fair to say you were lucky to be in the game at that point?

TOREY LOVULLO: Yes, when I was answering the earlier questions, those are things we've got to tighten up. You can't walk 10 batters in a World Series game and expect to hold them in the situation that we held them in. And it was a matter of time before something happened. And it did.

Q. What do you think it was that made the Rangers bullpen so effective, six-and-a-third, two singles, a walk, really shut you guys down. What were they doing so well?

TOREY LOVULLO: I think they were attacking the zone. Gray did a good job attacking the zone and using some secondary stuff. Their closer has been throwing the ball really well. When he gets locked in, he can grind up some innings.

And the others, we budgeted for. We talked about it. We knew how to attack him. I don't think we just got a really long look at them. It was the Leclerc-Gray grouping that I felt we had a better way to do some things after we finished.

Q. Have there been conversations about pitching around Seager in that situation?

TOREY LOVULLO: That's what I was talking to front office about in my front office. In the fantasy land, knowing the outcome and you're trying to prevent a two-run home run to stay in the game, yeah, you feel like, you put him on and you've got first and second with some very capable hitters behind him, which you've got to be careful of.

I think, if I'm sitting there as a Monday morning quarterback, I'm thinking about it now. But I was thinking with a very clear head, make pitches, bring our closer into the game and we'll get a couple of outs here and march off the field. That was my mindset.

Q. The fan base will be thinking B.K. Kim. 2001, he had a couple of blown saves. Do ball players and managers think about history? Does that weigh on you guys, or are you too in the moment to think about it?

TOREY LOVULLO: Nothing there for me. I don't think any of these players were old enough to possibly remember what was going on at that time. I know we have some really big baseball fans; they probably remember. But I don't think anybody is connecting those dots.