BOSTON -- Monday night was supposed to be about the return from injury of two key contributors for the Diamondbacks. Instead, the focus was on the absence of one of their star players.
Second baseman Ketel Marte did not show up at Fenway Park for the series opener against the Red Sox due to what the team would later call a "personal matter." He was placed on the restricted list.
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said he first got wind of the possibility that Marte might not show up for the game against the Red Sox when he woke up Monday morning. Lovullo declined to get into the specifics of his contact with Marte.
Marte had been penciled into the lineup as the designated hitter, and the team held the lineup back until around 20 minutes before game time in the hopes that Marte would show up.
"It's been a crazy day," Lovullo said after the Diamondbacks’ 11-1 loss. "All I know is that he's dealing with a personal issue. We're trying to figure that out, and he didn't show up today and he was put on the restricted list. That's as much as I know right now. I just was doing my best to reach out to him, and there was very little coming back."
Lovullo has long been one of Marte's biggest supporters, and the two are close. Lovullo was asked if he was disappointed in how this day went.
"We deal with a lot as baseball managers and coaches and teachers," Lovullo said. "So, you know, sometimes you get disappointed, sometimes you get let down. But we're going to figure out how to work through this."
No one seemed to have the specifics of what Marte was dealing with, only that he flew with the team from Atlanta on Sunday night and was in Boston on Monday.
"It was unfortunate that he wasn't there tonight," Arizona general manager Mike Hazen said.
Hazen declined to go into any further detail.
Shortstop Geraldo Perdomo, who is one of Marte's closest friends on the team, seemed surprised that Marte was not at the ballpark.
"I don't know anything," Perdomo said. "I just came here to play, and I didn't see him here and we haven't talked yet. At the end of the day, we are a family and we're going to support everybody, no matter what. So we just came here to play, and that's the only goal we have right now, just to win."
Winning games is a must for the Diamondbacks right now as they find themselves locked in a battle for a National League Wild Card spot. With the loss to the Red Sox, Arizona (66-60) sits one game behind the Padres (67-59) -- who also lost Monday -- in the race for the final Wild Card spot and two games behind the Phillies (68-58), who own the No. 2 slot.
"I think you could definitely sum it up as a weird day," right fielder Corbin Carroll said. "But I thought the coaches did a good job of handling it and … making sure that we were prepared."
Carroll said he had a brief text exchange with Marte, but he did not know what caused him to miss the game.
Lovullo was asked how he thought his players handled the uncertainty leading into the game.
"The players are gritty," Lovullo said. "They rally around one another. I know there was a lot of discussions about it at different points in time in the clubhouse today. There was a lot of curiosity.
“We care for Ketel, and … once we knew he was OK, I think everybody relaxed and started to focus on the game. But you know, what was the final score, 11-1? I mean, we got our [butts] kicked. We’ve got to be better."
When Marte will return is another question that no one in the organization seems to have an answer for.
"I don't know," Lovullo said.