How do you celebrate a teammate's outing? Ask for his autograph

DENVER -- “Can I have your autograph?”

It was a strange question, considering it was asked of one Major League reliever by another after their team had just lost a game.

But that was what Ryan Thompson asked Kevin Ginkel after the D-backs’ 4-2 loss to the Rockies at Coors Field on Saturday.

Ginkel smiled and obliged.

Thompson’s gesture was part of a larger effort within Arizona’s bullpen to celebrate the little things -- even if they come packaged in defeat.

In this case, the celebration was for Ginkel’s escape from a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam in the eighth inning. After rookie Brandyn Garcia surrendered his first run of the season during his sixth appearance, D-backs manager Torey Lovullo turned to Ginkel to hold the deficit at 4-2.

And that’s what Ginkel did, getting a ground-ball out at home off the bat of Ezequiel Tovar, striking out pinch-hitter Troy Johnston and inducing an inning-ending groundout from Kyle Karros.

In the ninth, the D-backs put the tying runs aboard and Geraldo Perdomo battled in a 10-pitch at-bat before hitting a fly ball to center field that ended the game.

It was a loss. And for most, the job Ginkel did in the eighth inning -- at hitter-friendly Coors Field, no less -- will be forgotten.

But not by anyone in the D-backs’ bullpen. Not if Thompson can help it.

“I think that’s kind of a bullpen culture thing we’ve created,” Thompson said of acknowledging the accomplishments, however large or small they may seem in the bigger scheme of things. “I think one of the hardest parts is that, as a bullpen guy, you don’t get much of the glory but you get all of the hate when things don’t go your way.

“ … We try to turn that on its head and just be like, ‘Good game or bad game, it doesn’t matter. … Treat people the exact same way, whether you had a great game or a bad game. That’s what we were doing [with the autograph thing]. Just keeping it light, having fun.”

And therein lies a central component to what has become a strong bullpen in Arizona -- entering Saturday, the D-backs’ relief corps led the Majors in May with a 1.99 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, .173 opponents’ batting average and .489 opponents’ OPS.

Before Saturday’s game, Garcia had yielded only a single over 5 2/3 innings since making his season debut on May 1. And his line on Saturday could've looked much worse had it not been for Ginkel’s escape act.

“With Ginkel getting out of that huge situation,” Thompson said, “now Garcia’s going to bed tonight saying, ‘I gave up only one run, not three.’”

It’s the little things, even in the losses. And even beyond the bullpen.

Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, who has been excellent early on this season, struggled early in Saturday’s start, giving up three runs on nine hits over the first three innings. But he also demonstrated the importance of the small wins.

In the fourth and fifth, despite not having his best stuff, he went with what was working and did not surrender anything further, going fastball-heavy and finishing with no walks and six strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings.

“E-Rod had to grind through those first couple innings,” Ginkel said. “But we kind of know as pitchers that if you can get through the fifth or get to the fifth, it gives us in the bullpen three or four more innings for tomorrow.”

Saturday’s result added one to the “L” side of the D-backs’ ledger. But it’s never that simple.

Not in baseball. Not over 162 games.

“We can’t be so results-oriented [that we don’t] look at the intangibles,” said Thompson, who has a 3.07 ERA over 20 appearances this year. “ … Do you over-glorify the things you did great? It might make you complacent and worse tomorrow. If you over-glorify the things you did bad, you might show up tomorrow and you’re changing things you don’t need to change.”

When told that Arizona’s bullpen had been the best in baseball this month, Thompson started to walk away.

This was no time for over-glorifying the past couple of weeks.

“I’m not listening to that,” he said. “I’m gonna go take a shower.”

Before he could get too far, he was asked one final question: What would he do with the baseball Ginkel signed for him?

“Save it forever,” he said. “It’ll go on my mantle.”