Has Godley turned a corner?
The Diamondbacks still have 43 games to play in the regular season after Tuesday, but for a team that entered the day with a slim half-game lead over the Dodgers in the NL West standings, it’s never too early to plan for the future.
In all likelihood, the Diamondbacks will need every win they can get just to make it into October. The club may be in first place, but just two games separate the first-place Diamondbacks and the third-place Rockies.
That being said, starting pitching figures to be key in how the Diamondbacks will finish the regular season and, if the club is fortunate enough to reach the postseason, it will also be key in how manager Torey Lovullo builds his pitching staff for October.
Right-hander Zack Godley is trying to pitch his way back into such conversations.
Godley, who has struggled at several different points throughout this season, pitched 7 1/3 innings and allowed two runs while striking out seven in a 14-inning win over the Phillies on Monday at Chase Field.
Godley was coming off his best start of the season having pitched seven innings of scoreless ball to go along with 10 strikeouts against the Rangers on July 31. But in many ways, Godley’s start on Monday carried greater importance.
“That was a huge boost for us (on Monday),” Lovullo said of Godley’s outing. “He’s had several good starts in a row. The baseball season is long and grinding and it’s not going to be pristine and perfect for everybody. … Zack has gone through some growing pains. He had some success last year, and I think the league made an adjustment to him.
“In turn, he’s flipped the switch and made some of his own adjustments — and they’re quality adjustments. He’s attacking the zone with a 3-4 pitch mix and he’s having good success right now.”
Indeed, Godley’s pitch selection on Monday seemed to differ from the repertoire he’s shown in previous starts this season.
The numbers seem to suggest that the more Godley throws his curveball and the better he can locate it, positive results seem to follow.
Godley’s worst stretch of the season came from April 15 to the end of May, when the right-hander posted a 5.48 ERA in nine starts. In those outings, Godley threw his curveball 38 percent of the time.
Fast forward to the present, where Godley is currently mired in his best stretch of the season. He has made seven appearances (six starts) between July 6 and his outing on Monday and has posted a 2.61 ERA. His curveball usage over that span? 46 percent.
Godley seems to be relying more on his signature pitch, the curveball, and less on his sinker. On Monday, Godley threw his sinker just 23 percent of the time, which is the second-most infrequently he has thrown the pitch in any start this season.
“It’s been command of the baseball,” Lovullo said of what adjustments Godley has made. “It’s been about fastball command and an ability to get strike one. I think he becomes a very uncomfortable at-bat. Stuff is diving around everywhere.
“He’s engaging the hitter and showing an ability to get ahead of him. I think that the breaking ball, when thrown right, is hard to pick up. … It’s a lot of different weapons.”
Lovullo and his staff haven’t had any serious discussions about who would or wouldn’t be part of a postseason pitching staff, but the manager remembers Godley’s gutsy outing in Game 2 of the NLDS against the Dodgers last season.
“As I remember back to the postseason last year,” Lovullo said. “Taijuan (Walker) started Game 1 in LA and Zack followed him up and gave us (five) quality innings and kept us in the game and gave us a chance to play catch-up.
“He’s pitched some really meaningful innings inside of a baseball season and he’s got that postseason experience as well.”
For now, Lovullo is enjoying watch Godley regain the form he showed over the better part of his breakout 2017 campaign. But sooner or later, the Diamondbacks will have decisions to make.
“We haven’t quite gotten that far,” Lovullo said. “But it’s nice to know he’s on this type of run of success. Hopefully, when we get to that point and we’re organizing our thoughts, and obviously with the way he’s throwing the ball, he’s going to be strongly considered to pitch some big games for us down the stretch.”