Montero gets rare day off in finale vs. Braves

ATLANTA -- D-backs catcher Miguel Montero got the day off against Braves left-hander Alex Wood on Sunday afternoon at Turner Field, a rare break for the backstop. He has played in all but two of Arizona's 33 games since May 30.

Tuffy Gosewisch handled the catching duties for southpaw Wade Miley, halting a stretch for Montero that included 30 starts, 129 plate appearances and 270 1/3 frames behind the plate. His total of 79 games as a catcher this year leads the Majors.

"Tuffy's been working. He's been doing an exceptional job at staying ready," D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said. "He was out there [Saturday] at 11:15 throwing, blocking balls. He does a good job."

Gibson first hinted Saturday at the possibility of resting Montero and giving Gosewisch his first start since June 19. When Sunday's lineup was released, Gosewisch was catching and batting seventh.

In addition to playing more games than any other backstop in baseball this season, Montero entered Sunday leading all catchers with 50 RBIs and 33 walks and ranked second with 11 home runs, already more than halfway to his career high of 18.

But Montero has struggled against southpaws this season, with a .157 (11-for-70) clip against them compared to Gosewisch's .286 (8-for-28) career batting average against them.

"I'd [give Montero a day off] lefty or righty if I was going to do it. He's played all the games here on the road, so I'm thinking about doing that," said Gibson of Montero's workload during Arizona's current nine-game road trip that ends on Sunday.