Lovullo enjoys ‘surreal’ moment

There was a very Southern California moment for the Arizona Diamondbacks toward the end of Game 1 in the National League division series with the Dodgers.

When pinch-hitter Austin Barnes led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a single against lefthander Andrew Chafin, Arizona manager Torey Lovullo — who was born in Santa Monica, raised in the San Fernando Valley where he attended Montclair Prep, and played in college at UCLA — went to the mound and called for a different reliever. It was a 25-year-old right-hander he has known for a long time.

Jimmie Sherfy came in from the bullpen and Lovullo couldn’t help having a little flashback. Sherfy, who gave up one run, and Nick Lovullo, one of the manager’s sons, were teammates at Newbury Park High.

“Here I am handing a ball off to one of my son’s high school teammates that I watched grow up playing baseball,” Lovullo said Saturday before Game 2. “It was a surreal moment for me. I know we made eye contact, and I’ll never forget what that feeling was like.

“Almost like a parent is handing the ball off to their own child, and that’s how I view Jimmie.”

Things did not go nearly as well for Sherfy in Game 2. He faced three batter with one out s in the fifth inning and gave up three runs in 10 pitches.

After pinch-hitter Curtis Granderson singled on the Sherfy’s second pitch, Logan Forsythe drove in a run with a hit and Barnes doubled home two more.

Grand plan

The Dodgers playoff debut of Granderson in Game 1 went much like his first six weeks as a Dodger. He struck out twice and went hitless in four at-bats.

Granderson arrived from the New York Mets in midAugust and batted .161 with a .654 on-base-plus-slugging percentage as a Dodger, with 33 strikeouts in 112 atbats.

The veteran outfielder will remain in the lineup against right-handed pitchers, though he sat for the start of Game 2, with lefthander Robbie Ray starting for Arizona..

“I don’t have any plans on giving up on him just quite yet,” manager Dave Roberts said.

Pain management

Seager said his sore right elbow is doing “OK.” One game into a postseason he hopes will last four more weeks, the shortstop is managing the elbow pain that has hampered him since mid-August.

“Just figuring out how to rest it, figuring out how to just maintain,” Seager said. “The trainers and strength coaches have been fantastic with helping put a plan together and staying to the plan and maintaining it, basically.”

Seager hit .179 in September, by far his worst performance in a month this season. However, he got three hits in the Oct. 1 regular-season finale, and reached base three times in Game 1 of the division series.

“It was just more of trying to keep him strong through October,” Roberts said. “The communication with Corey was very clear. Maybe not agreeable at all times, but it was clear from our perspective. The way he swung the bat over the last week before the season ended — and obviously yesterday — he swung the bat very well. So I think it was a good thing.”

Chase Utley to start

Chase Utley will start at second base Monday in Arizona, Roberts said.