One day after outfielder Kole Calhoun was activated off of the injured list, the D-backs received another boost Saturday when shortstop Nick Ahmed, who missed the first eight games of the season with right knee patella tendinitis, was added back to the active roster.

Ahmed had hoped to play through the knee injury this spring, and then after being shut down from March 8-17, he once again tried to play during the Cactus League before being shut back down.

The team was so optimistic that he wouldn't miss significant time that it made Ahmed part of its Opening Day roster. However, after being out of the lineup for the first two games, he was placed on the 10-day injured list.

"Since I've been the manager here, he's [been] one of the best shortstops in baseball," said D-backs manager Torey Lovullo, who took over before the 2017 season. "The industry is aware of that. So just getting that guy back in the lineup is going to be tremendous for us and [will] push us in a very, very good direction. We felt that yesterday with Kole.

"Getting both those guys back inside of our clubhouse cannot be measured. You know what they do on the field ... but getting them back inside of the clubhouse, and their leadership and their ability to go out and command the respect of their teammates inside of that clubhouse is going to help us on some tough days. And we're walking through some tough days right now."

Rookie shortstop Geraldo Perdomo was optioned to the team's alternate site to make room for Ahmed.

Gallen next?
The D-backs are listing Tuesday's starting pitcher as TBA, leaving open the possibility that ace Zac Gallen could get the nod.

Gallen has been on the injured list with a right forearm hairline stress fracture of the radial head. Gallen was scratched from his spring start on March 22 when the injury was first diagnosed.

Gallen said that he first felt the injury when he was jammed on consecutive pitches while taking batting practice. The only time that he experienced discomfort after that was when he threw his curveball.

Recently, Gallen has been pitching in camp games at Salt River Fields and he has been able to throw all his pitches without discomfort.

Since coming to the D-backs from the Marlins at the Trade Deadline in 2019, Gallen has made 20 starts and has a 2.80 ERA with an ERA+ of 163.

Gallen's return would certainly boost a rotation that entered Saturday ranked 27th in the big leagues in ERA with a 6.75 mark.

Why Bumgarner?
Lost in the shuffle of Friday's home opener was Lovullo's decision to pinch-hit pitcher Madison Bumgarner for reliever Stefan Crichton in the ninth inning with two outs and a runner at first.

Lovullo had two position players left on the bench at that point -- Stephen Vogt and Perdomo.

Bumgarner broke his bat and popped out to third base, sending the game to extra innings, where the D-backs would lose, 6-5, in the 10th.

Vogt was the D-backs' lone backup catcher and Lovullo hates to leave himself without a catcher on the bench. In addition, he did not like the matchup of the lefty-swinging Vogt against southpaw Cionel Pérez.

Perdomo is a switch-hitter, but after not playing above Class A Advanced until last week, Lovullo felt that Bumgarner was his best option.

"Bum's a good hitter," Lovullo said. "He's a real good hitter and I was looking for a little bit of slug in that situation. We had about three or four different scenarios, and one of them landed on Bum hitting with a runner on first base and two outs and I wanted to end the game right there.

"I was looking for him to drive the baseball. And I've seen him do it a long time. I've seen him do it in BP, I've seen him do it in games. He just unfortunately got beat by a pitch that I know that he's probably looking for, and sometimes you win, sometimes you lose."

Bumgarner has a slash line of .177/.228/.304 over his 13-year career.