MILWAUKEE -- Torey Lovullo had simply had enough.
The D-backs' manager watched his team go 5-24 in May, erasing a positive April. He saw fundamental mistakes being made defensively, on the bases and at the plate.
So when the ball from another errant throw trickled into the D-backs' dugout in the third inning of their 5-1 loss to the Brewers on Friday night at American Family Field and allowed Omar Narváez to round the bases on what should have just been a double to left, everything came to a head.
Lovullo crossed his arms and stood at his usual perch in the dugout as the final out was made. Then, as his players entered the dugout, he called them over as a group and let his frustration out.
"I don’t typically like to do things like I did, but I had enough," Lovullo said.
Lovullo has tried everything over the past five weeks to snap his team out of its funk. He has cajoled, he has yelled, he has prodded, he has encouraged.
"A lot of it will stay between me and the players," Lovullo said. "But what I told them was that I have extremely high expectations of this group, and we are a good baseball team, and it’s time to go out and play our type of baseball. At the end of the night, I can sit down and accept a win or a loss if we do things our way. We are not meeting our standards."
The D-backs have lost 15 straight games away from Chase Field, snapping the franchise record of 14 which was set in 2010.
In his fifth year as Arizona manager, Lovullo is known for his ability to communicate with his players. He goes out of his way to make sure that they hear any news directly from him before he speaks publicly.
While he will criticize a player behind closed doors, he is reluctant to do it in public. All of which made his actions Friday night, which were captured by television cameras, stand out even more.
"I didn’t care," Lovullo said. "It was that time. I needed to address that situation and let them know that I feel like we can do better. I don’t plan any of that, players see right through it if it's made up or planned or prefabbed, they’re going to see right through it. It bubbled over when the ball rolled into the dugout and we failed to back up a base. I just said that’s enough."
The outburst didn't help on the field as the D-backs were held hitless by Freddy Peralta for 7 1/3 innings before Nick Ahmed dropped a hit into left-center field.
"I love Torey," Ahmed said. "I think he’s a great manager. You know, he has every right to be frustrated, like everyone else was. He’s preaching that even if we are going to get beat, we need to do things the right way."
First baseman Christian Walker said that he would not describe Lovullo's action as angry, but instead passionate and frustrated.
"What is there not to be frustrated about at the moment, you know?" Walker said. "I think that’s what good managers do. When they see something like that getting away, they nip it in the bud, whatever it takes. We deserve it. You got to do what you’ve got to do to keep the team on track. I respect that. I can only speak on my own personal experience. I need to do a better job in helping this team win, being a better player for my teammates, and there’s no excuse for anything less."