Slumping D-Backs players fuel comeback
WASHINGTON — Torey Lovullo watched Stone Garrett’s grand slam with his own two eyes, but that didn’t make it any easier to believe. On Sunday morning, the Arizona Diamondbacks had allowed just three grand slams all year. These things are rare, after all. But when Garrett’s homer landed in the visitors’ bullpen at Nationals Park, they had allowed two in as many innings.
“When it happened, it’s like, oh my god, where are we? It was an outer space moment for me,” Lovullo said. “Definite out of body experience.”
Quickly, Lovullo’s mind turned back to the task at hand. “Ride the wave a little bit, weather that storm and the boys will come back and play good baseball,” he told himself.
Whether Lovullo’s manifesting had any power, his vision came true. The Diamondbacks, who have spent the season’s first two months building a reputation for comeback wins, pulled off the trick again Tuesday night. With a 10-5 win over the Nationals, they’ve now won 18 times from trailing positions.
The comeback was conducted, in large part, by a group of players who have spent the last month struggling at the plate. Pavin Smith, Josh Rojas and Geraldo Perdomo all entered with batting averages under .200 since the start of May. Jake McCarthy has had some success since being recalled from Triple-A two weeks ago but was still hitting
just .187 on the year. The Diamondbacks, for all their winning, have done so with undeniable holes in the lineup.
Combined, those four players reached base eight times, added two sacrifice flies, stole two bases and drove in seven runs.
“I know that they’re good baseball players that have done it at a very high level for a long time,” Lovullo said. “… It’s a game of patience. You can’t try and do too much. You’re one of 13 position players. Just put yourself in line to do your job.”
The caveat, of course, lies in the Nationals’ pitching. The three pitchers upon whom the Diamondbacks teed off — Jake Irvin, Erasmo Ramírez and Chad Kuhl — all have ERAs north of 6.00. The Diamondbacks set a season-high by reaching base 22 times, surpassing the
21 times they reached a month ago against, yes, these same Nationals.
But for those who entered this series on cold stretches, it was an encouraging night.
Lovullo made special note of Rojas, who he highlighted pregame as having gotten back to an aggressive offensive mindset that helped him to a career year in 2022. The manager saw that from his third baseman on Sunday, when Rojas ripped a hard-hit single into right field and caught the Braves off guard with a two-strike bunt.
Rojas repeated both feats Tuesday. He scored a run after a bunt single in the fourth, tied the game with a sacrifice fly in the fifth and gave the Diamondbacks a critical cushion with a two-run single to right in the sixth.
“He’s just a great, heady player,” Lovullo
said. “Part of his game is to just be a thorn in the side of the opposition and that charges him up. He ended up doing it again today.”
On the mound, Henry steadied himself after the shaky first in which he walked three batters, two of whom came around to score on the grand slam. From the second inning to the fourth, he allowed just one baserunner, limiting the Nationals to soft contact even as he only tallied two strikeouts on the night.
“I just tried to be the aggressor a little bit more,” Henry said. “I treated it like a wakeup call, little bit of a punch in the face. And when the bell rang for the second inning, tried to be on the attack, be on my toes and force the issue a little bit more. And that seemed to work.”
Still, the grand slam left him with a biting regret from the night, and not just because of the four runs it represented. Henry and Garrett each consider the other among their best friends in professional baseball, a bond forged as roommates in the Diamondbacks’ minor league system last year. They even have a tee time set for Wednesday morning. Henry knows what’s waiting for him when he pulls up to the golf course.
“I probably won’t hear the end of it now,” Henry said.
At least he’ll be able to retort with the final score.