'Frustrating': Sloppy defense dooms D-backs

Marte's late grand slam not enough as Lovullo shows emotion in dugout

August 31st, 2021

PHOENIX -- Torey Lovullo prefers to keep his criticism of his players behind closed doors and certainly out of view from the public, but for the second time this season he let his emotions show during a game and aired his team out in the dugout.

It might not have been quite as animated as it was in early June in Milwaukee, but Monday's outburst early in what proved to be a 7-5 loss to the Padres was a sign the D-backs' manager had been pushed to his limit.

"Look, I’m human," Lovullo said. "I have emotions. And I have my breaking point. Look, I bark at them all the time. A lot of times you guys don’t see it. Every once in a while it’s a little bit more intense, and today was perhaps one of the more intense moments, so it maybe stood out. Look, it’s my right as a manager to let these guys know they’ve got to play better and be better. I’m never going to come off of that."

In the first two innings, the D-backs committed an error that led to a pair of first-inning runs, they missed a cut-off man, failed to cover a base and had two players bump into each other allowing a bunt that should have been an out, instead go for a hit.

As they got to the dugout at the end of the top of the second, Lovullo let them have it, briefly yelling while standing on a dugout step.

"My expectations never change," Lovullo added. "I think there were a lot of mental errors that we watched unfold in those two innings. I understand that pitches are going to be misguided and I understand that balls are going to roll through guys’ legs. But the simple things of backing up bases, throwing to the right base, getting your feet set up, driving throws to cutoff men, driving throws to your teammates no matter where they are, that’s something we do well because we practice it a lot. When we get sloppy, I think it’s more focus and effort and that’s when I have to step in.”

Like his outburst in Milwaukee, Lovullo did not receive criticism from his players, but instead got support.

"I think it’s times like that where he’s saying what everyone’s thinking and feeling," second baseman Josh Rojas said. "Everyone in the dugout is fed up with the way we’re playing. Nobody likes giving up free runs, free baserunners. When he comes out and says it, it’s kind of reassuring, like, 'Yeah, you’re right. You’re 100 percent right. This is frustrating. This needs to stop.' I think he hit the nail on the head both times he’s done it.

"I haven’t felt that it was uncalled for. I felt it was much needed. He said the exact right things. He locked me back in, fired me up. For me personally, it’s one of those things where you’re feeling it inside, but it’s not my place or any players’ place to say anything out loud. Everybody just do their own job. When he comes in there and lets us hear it and gives us what he’s feeling, it’s reassuring. Yeah, I feel the same way. I agree, we need to lock it in. At that point, we had seven more innings to play, and if we want to have any chance at winning this game, we’ve got to lock it in."

The D-backs did regain their bearings after the first two innings and after falling behind 5-0 and 6-1, they nearly tied the game when Ketel Marte hit a grand slam in the seventh to pull them to within 6-5.

It was a positive sign, but it also left the D-backs wondering how different the result might have been had they not started off the game so poorly.

"If you reverse it and start unwinding the game, we should have won this 5-4 or 5-3 if you start to add it up that way," Lovullo said. "Between the first and second inning, we looked like crap. We looked like we weren’t ready to play. That’s my responsibility. That’s why I wanted to get their attention and tell them [that] I was extremely upset with what I was watching for the first two innings. We tightened it up from there. And made it a good ballgame, so I was happy with what they did for the remaining seven innings."