Lovullo explains D-Backs’ Game 1 lineup decisions

LOS ANGELES – Torey Lovullo raised eyebrows with his starting lineup for Game 1 of the National League Division Series, going with Jeff Mathis over Chris Iannetta at catcher and sitting third baseman Jake Lamb in favor of Adam Rosales in the matchup against Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw.

Lovullo said he “liked the way Jeff matches up with Taijuan (Walker),” the Diamondbacks starter opposite Kershaw. Mathis, regarded as a defensefirst catcher, was behind the plate all nine innings in Wednesday’s wild-card victory over the Colorado Rockies.

The Diamondbacks are expected to alternate between the two catchers throughout the series.

One thing Lovullo said was not a factor was Iannetta’s relationship with Walker. During a start on Sept. 23, Iannetta caught a pitch from Walker and fired it back to the mound, the ball flying by Walker’s head and into center field. There was no one base at the time, but it appeared to be a tense one between the two.

“I know that they have a longstanding relationship and they’re like brothers out there,” Lovullo said. “I know certain things you may have seen throughout the course of the year would give you the feeling that it wasn’t a great relationship, but believe it or not it’s a strong, kind of pushing-forward type of relationship.”

Iannetta, who was with Walker on the Seattle Mariners last season, told Fox Sports Arizona that there was “nothing personal” about the exchange.

“We’re great friends,” Iannetta said. “It was just me trying to get on him, trying rile him up any way that I could. I know and I’ve seen it over the last year with Seattle and after we came here, when he’s fired up he’s real locked in and he pitches a lot better.”

As for decision at third base, Lovullo said a big factor for him was the fact that Lamb has never faced Kershaw. He also said he’s been using Rosales against lefties regularly over the past two months and didn’t want to diverge from the script.

Lovullo was asked if he wished he had gotten Lamb a start against Kershaw earlier this year, a question he said the Diamondbacks’ front office had already asked him. He noted that Kershaw started against them only twice this year, and that there were times when he was trying maximize the team’s chances to win by sitting Lamb, who struggles against lefties.

“But, yes, in a perfect world, I do regret not getting an opportunity to get a spin at him,” Lovullo said. “But at that time you can’t project forward and figure out that we’re going to be sitting in this seat at this moment.”

Roster moves

The Diamondbacks’ roster for the division series is the same as it was for the wild-card game with the exception of two changes. Right-hander Taijuan Walker and slugger Christian Walker were added with outfielder Rey Fuentes and catcher Chris Herrmann taken off, giving the club 14 position players and 11 pitchers.

Lovullo said the decision to carry the right-handed hitting Christian Walker was mostly about trying to play matchups against the Dodgers, who have three left-handers in their rotation and two more in the bullpen.

“We just felt like in projecting the Dodgers roster that we wanted to maximize certain situations,” Lovullo said. “We had to give up something. You can’t have every matchup you want.”

Infielder Chris Owings remained off the roster, Lovullo said, because he wasn’t “100 percent physically” ready to return from the fractured right middle finger that has cost him the past two-plus months.

“We were up late last night talking about him as a group,” Lovullo said. “And we just felt like he was close but not exactly perfect.”