Drury finding his way back into lineup
During the most recent road trip, when second baseman Brandon Drury’s bat was first showing signs of renewed life, he was asked what’s behind the turnaround. Drury hesitated before answering without actually giving an answer.
“I feel good,” Drury said, “but I don’t want to talk about it because I don’t want to think about it.”
Fair enough. Drury’s offensive struggles cost him regular at-bats over the past month, but as he’s started to heat up at the plate, he’s begun to again find himself in manager Torey Lovullo’s lineup more consistently.
He had a big game in Tuesday night’s 7-6 win over the Dodgers, doubling in two runs in the first inning against lefty Rich Hill and lining a two-out triple in the ninth. Perhaps as a result, he was hitting sixth in Wednesday night’s lineup.
“You can see it’s trending in a positive direction and he’s playing a little bit more and he deserves that,” Lovullo said. “Because he has made some adjustments.
“He’s been challenged with a couple of things through tough conversations that I’ve had with him personally. He’s doing his job, and that’s what this game is all about – getting better, learning, applying and trusting. And he’s doing that right now. I know Brandon has a lot of different gifts and they’re showing up piece by piece.”
What’s the holdup?
At least a half dozen times in the ninth inning on Tuesday night, closer Fernando Rodney was visited by either catcher Chris Iannetta or middle infielders Adam Rosales and Brandon Drury. Rodney said there was a good reason for the visits.
“That kind of team,” Rodney said, “like Boston, the Dodgers, the Yankees, those guys have experience. Toronto. They know how to steal signs. When you play with those guys, you have to be careful.
“A game like that on the line – that game was very important to us – so I called out Iannetta and changed the signs.”
He said he wanted to make sure that the baserunner on second base – Chase Utley and Chris Taylor both advanced as far as second during the inning – wasn’t relaying signs to teammates. The infielders were huddling around him so they were aware of what pitches were coming.
Help is coming
With rosters set to expand on Friday, the Diamondbacks, like every other team in baseball, are expected to add a handful of players from the minor leagues.
Lovullo wasn’t dropping many hints, saying there were “some very obvious candidates and everybody sees where our lineup might be thinning out.”
With catcher Jeff Mathis out with a fractured hand, it seems likely the club will recall Triple-A Reno catcher John Ryan Murphy, whom the Diamondbacks acquired in a July trade with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Reliever Jimmie Sherfy, who threw well in two appearances on the previous road trip before being sent back to the minors, looks like another likely candidate, as does one or both of middle infielders Ildemaro Vargas and Jack Reinheimer, either of whom would give the Diamondbacks additional coverage at shortstop.
Another eventual addition will be right-hander Randall Delgado, who has missed the past six weeks with a flexor strain in his right elbow.