Goldschmidt wants ‘no part’ of pitching in game

As long as Torey Lovullo is managing the Diamondbacks, you won’t see Paul Goldschmidt on the pitching mound.

At least, that was the message Lovullo relayed to the media after Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo entered Monday’s game for his first career pitching performance in a 7-1 loss to Arizona.

“I’d probably get fired tomorrow,” Lovullo said when asked if he foresaw putting his first baseman in a similar position. “Paul Goldschmidt, I can tell you, will never pitch in a game.”

The news did not stir Goldschmidt, who said after Monday’s game that he wanted “no part” of ever pitching in a game. So that settles that.

Although the Diamondbacks have employed three different position players — Daniel Descalso, Jeff Mathis and Alex Avila — as pitchers this season, Monday marked the first time this season that the club had faced such a situation.

Cubs catcher Victor Caratini entered Monday’s game in the eighth inning and later moved to first base when Cubs manager Joe Maddon brought Rizzo in to record the final out of the top of the ninth.

Rizzo got A.J. Pollock to fly out to center field.

“The first pitcher, we thought ‘OK, we understand,’” Lovullo said. “But the second time, when the move was made for Rizzo, we thought that it was Rizzo probably begging Joe for a year-plus to get him into the game and Joe followed through on it.

“The scouting report was: Don’t get hurt swinging. We just had to take a very cautious approach to be able to get through to tomorrow.”

Old battery

Diamondbacks catcher Alex Avila, who was in the club’s starting lineup on Tuesday, might have an advantage for his first start against his former team at Wrigley Field.

Avila joined the Cubs around the trade deadline last season and caught several of the team’s current pitchers in the last couple months of the season. One of those pitchers was Tuesday’s starter, right-hander Kyle Hendricks.

“I thought him having a chance to catch Hendricks last year would be an advantage for us,” Lovullo said of Avila. “He’s been swinging the bat pretty good lately and I wanted to give him that opportunity.”

Lovullo said he also liked the pairing of Avila with Diamondbacks right-hander Clay Buchholz, a 12-year veteran who toed the Wrigley Field rubber for the first time on Tuesday.

The Diamondbacks were hoping Buchholz could continue the club’s current stretch of lengthy outings from their starting pitchers. After right-hander Zack Greinke went eight innings on Sunday at Chase Field, lefty Patrick Corbin stymied the Cubs with seven innings in a winning effort on Monday.