Is faith in Boxberger waning?
Lovullo says no, but his actions say otherwise
Going by his actions alone, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo appears to be losing faith in closer Brad Boxberger. A lead in the ninth does not assure Boxberger of starting the inning. And protecting the lead – insofar as not actually allowing a run – does not assure Boxberger of remaining in the game to finish it.
Everything would suggest Boxberger’s hold on the closer’s job is tenuous at best – everything, that is, except what Lovullo says about it.
“He is still our closer,” Lovullo said after Boxberger took the loss in a 7-6 defeat to the Atlanta Braves on Thursday night. “He’s going to get save opportunities. He’s going to be the main guy that I’m looking at to get that column filled up, all right?”
Last week in San Francisco, Lovullo began to show signs of handling the ninth inning differently. Boxberger’s blown save on Aug. 25 against the Mariners was his sixth of the season, and, coupled with his struggles against lefthanded hitters, it was apparently enough to compel Lovullo to start altering the deployment plan.
With a two-run lead at AT&T Park on August 29, Lovullo let lefty Andrew Chafin open the ninth inning to face the left-handed hitting Brandon Crawford, whom he struck out, before going to Boxberger, who struck out the two right-handed hitters who followed to end the game.
One night later at Dodger Stadium, the same scenario presented itself and the Diamondbacks got the same results. Chafin struck out lefty Cody Bellinger to start the ninth, and Boxberger entered to strike out a pair of righthanded hitters.
Two days later, Lovullo showed his new style wasn’t just limited to the beginning of innings. He started the ninth with Boxberger, but after the Dodgers got two men on with one out, Lovullo quickly went to right-hander Archie Bradley, who allowed both runners to score on Matt Kemp’s walkoff double.
Lovullo again yanked Boxberger before he’d given up a run on Thursday night, removing him with the bases loaded and two out only to watch as reliever Yoshihisa Hirano’s wild pitch allowed the go-ahead run to score.
“We’re just going to take a different path every now and then,” Lovullo said. “That’s what I explained to Brad about two weeks ago. He’s still going to get that opportunity, still going to be our closer, we’re just going to take a different journey to get there. It’s all about the team right now more so than one guy.”
Boxberger seemed to choose his words carefully on Thursday night when asked how the change has played into his performance.
“It’s definitely a mental change and shifting gears from the whole year that we’ve been doing it,” Boxberger said. “Definitely a little change in gears, but no excuse on how tonight went.”
It was the fourth time in nine outings Boxberger had been charged with an earned run. As far as other ninth-inning options, Lovullo doesn’t appear to have many besides than Hirano, at least not with the way Bradley has pitched since the All-Star break (15 runs in 18 1/3 innings).
Hirano, a former closer in Japan, has been the Diamondbacks’ most effective reliever. Through 59 1/3 innings in a setup capacity, he has a 1.97 ERA.
“We’ve got a full bullpen of guys who are wanting the baseball,” Lovullo said. “So I’m not going to let situations run by me. If I feel like there’s a better option, I’m going to absolutely consider it every time.”