Arizona Diamondbacks drop game one in crucial series against Rockies
Manager Torey Lovullo has made a few questionable choices before but his decision to let Jake Barrett pitch to Nolan Arenado was a costly one for the Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks dropped game one, 5-4, against the Colorado Rockies as Nolan Arenado got the best of Jake Barrett and Torey Lovullo.
With the game tied at two runs apiece and Zack Greinke having pitched seven innings, Lovullo turned to the bulllpen.
J.J. Hoover struck out Raimel Tapia to start the eighth inning. Then, Andrew Chafin struck out Charlie Blackmon.
With two outs on the board, but the game tied, Lovullo refused to turn to Archie Bradley unless the team had the lead. He also didn’t turn to David Hernandez, likely because Hernandez had pitched in the previous two games.
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Lovullo chose Jake Barrett.
Despite having thirteen consecutive scoreless appearances between July 8 and August 9, Barrett’s ERA has spiked. He has given up eight runs in 7.2 innings across eight games ever since.
Monday’s appearance did not favor the Diamondbacks. Barrett gave up a triple to D.J. LeMahieu with two outs before walking Carlos Gonzalez.
With MVP-candidate Nolan Arenado on deck, Lovullo did not budge. When addressing the media after the game, Lovullo defended his decision to leave Barrett in the game to face Arenado.
“We liked Jake (Barrett)’s stuff against CarGo and Arenado,” Lovullo said.
Barrett left a slider right over the plate and Arenado sent it over the wall in center field.
“It was just a bad slider; it was right in the middle of the zone and he made good contact on it,” Barrett said in a post-game interview.
The Diamondbacks scored two runs in the bottom of the inning, but their comeback fell short.
Barrett’s mistake overshadowed both a positive for the Diamondbacks and a negative. The offense was 2-for-10 with RISP, an issue that plagued them in the middle of the season.
But, it also overshadowed a fantastic performance by Zack Greinke. Greinke pitched seven complete innings, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out six batters.
His strikeout of Tyler Anderson in the fifth inning marked Greinke’s 200th strikeout of the season.
With the Los Angeles Dodgers late-night loss to the San Francisco Giants, the Diamondbacks also lost another chance to gain ground on the slumping division leaders.
They’ll look to change that on Tuesday as Taijuan Walker takes the mound against Jon Gray.
Arizona Diamondbacks: Previewing the pitching matchups against the Rockies
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