Chris Iannetta drives in seven runs as Arizona beats San Diego 15-3.
Manager Lovullo keeps pushing the correct buttons for surging D-Backs
When he first saw the Diamondbacks’ lineup for Thursday afternoon, in which he was batting second, catcher Chris Iannetta figured there had to be some kind of mistake.
“I asked if that was a typo,” Iannetta said, smiling while he described a conversation with coach Jerry Narron, who shows players the next day’s lineup the night before. “Then I asked if we were trying.”
Iannetta was kidding, of course, but what wound up happening in the Diamondbacks’ 15-3 demolition of the San Diego Padres was typical of how most decisions by manager Torey Lovullo have played out so far this year: It came up roses. Iannetta drove in a career-high sev-
en runs, leading the way as the Diamondbacks rolled to series sweep over the Padres, whom they outscored 32-9 in three games en route to moving back to a season-best 12 games over .500.
Despite Iannetta’s self-deprecating claims, there was nothing ridiculous about Lovullo’s lineup maneuvering Thursday. Nor has there been much all that out of the ordinary about his day-today managing of the pitching staff, the lineup or the roster as a whole.
But it’s felt like whatever move Lovullo has made – whether it’s asking his starting pitchers to go another inning, moving hitters to a new spot in the lineup or giving position players a seemingly unexpected off day – has tended to work out for the Diamondbacks’ first-year manager.
“I think these players do a lot of the little things that I’m asking for,” Lovullo said. “They’re always ready for a great challenge.”
The rationale could be as simple as the Diamondbacks being a team on a roll, but Lovullo’s players think there’s more to it. They point to his perpetually upbeat mentality, the culture he’s created around the team and his skills as a communicator, saying it’s all interconnected to the success the team is having.
“It’s just allowing guys to be who they are,” infielder/outfielder Chris Owings said. “I don’t want to compare it to how (Cubs manager) Joe Maddon is, but I feel like he has a lot of confidence in us to go out there and just compete. He believes that if things aren’t going well one day, show up the next day and they’ll be better.”
Iannetta recalls managers and coaches who have gravitated to players who are doing well but steered clear when they were struggling. But he says Lovullo has been even-keeled and consistent no matter the results, and he senses his manager isn’t just paying lip service when he asks him about things outside of baseball.
“He comes around and asks you, ‘How are your kids doing? How’s life going? How are things going?’” Iannetta said. “You get the sense that he genuinely cares. People can check boxes and be like, ‘Hey, how are you?’ And move on, and that’s it. But you get a sense of the people in your lives – friends, family, whoever it may be – that genuinely care how the person is doing regardless of the baseball player.”
Iannetta rewarded his manager’s faith on Thursday, delivering a go-ahead homer in the fifth followed by a pair of run-scoring doubles in the sixth and eighth innings to blow the game open.
“These are the days you play baseball for, with the chance to contribute and you have fun while doing it,” Iannetta said. “You feel like a kid again.”
The Diamondbacks certainly had fun this week. On Thursday, Owings changed his at-bat music to the Quad City DJ’s “C’mon N’ Ride It,” then glanced into the dugout at David Peralta to gauge his reaction. Owings said Peralta, who is nicknamed “The Freight Train,” had been talking about adopting the song but never made the change, so Owings co-opted it for himself.
“I was like, ‘All right, the next time I play right field, I’m going to make it my walk-out,’” Owings said. “(Peralta) didn’t know about, so I kind of looked at him when the song came on and he was over there smiling in the dugout. This is a fun team, a good clubhouse.”
UP NEXT: MILWAUKEE BREWERS
Brewers update: The Brewers rallied to tie their series finale with the Giants in the bottom of the ninth on Thursday but wound up losing in 10 innings, leaving them with a four-game split. For the past few weeks, they’ve been bouncing between first and second in the NL Central, never falling back by more than a half-game, never leading by more than two. They still rank fourth in the National League in runs per game, but the offense has fallen off in recent weeks. Meanwhile, the pitching has improved; in the past 14 games entering Thursday, the Brewers had a 2.95 ERA as a team. While 1B Eric Thames’ bat has cooled after a hot start, 3B Travis Shaw has had a productive few weeks, hitting .333/.398/.533 over his past 19 games. RF Domingo Santana has also been swinging the bat well, owning an OPS of .988 in his past 22 games.