Torey Lovullo Still Regrets Blown Lead, Loss to Brewers Last September

As the Arizona Diamondbacks were getting ready to face the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday afternoon for the start of a three game series, some bad memories came flooding back for manager Torey Lovullo.

Heading into play on September 22 last year the D-backs had an 87-68 record and looked like a lock to make the playoffs as a Wild Card team. They took an 8-0 lead over the Brewers through the top of the third inning, but ended up losing the game 10-9 amid a late-inning bullpen collapse.

The topic of that game came up during Lovullo's pre game press conference. More than any game, that one stood out to Lovullo as the one that got away, the toughest loss of the year in a season the team ended up missing the playoffs by just one game. Lovullo said as much at the end of the year interviews, and reiterated that again on Friday.

"I look back on that 8-0 lead. I think about that all the time on the last week of the season. I know there's other moments and stuff you can point to, but that's the one that always seems to kind of jump out to us. I think if we won that game, we were in a different spot" Lovullo said.

Jordan Montgomery had gone 4.1 innings, and Yilber Diaz came into the game in the fifth, and got five outs, but gave up a run in the six that had allowed the Brewers to close within 8-4. Asked if there was a move he made, or didn't make that stood out to him from that game, Lovullo was straight forward.

"We had three innings to close out, and I knew we had our guys lined up, and we were going to go with the back end of our bullpen the way we had all year. I probably should have stayed with Yilber [Diaz] to start the seventh just to see how it went."

Instead he went straight to Ryan Thompson, Joe Mantiply, and Justin Martinez. Those three combined to allow six runs on eight hits over the seventh and eighth innings.

Following that devastating loss, the D-backs went home and dropped two to the Giants, before salvaging game three of that series.

"We had a little bit of a hangover from that, [Brewers game] and we were paying attention to the scores, and we saw what happened, and we knew how much it closed up the race, and it could have really reinforced where we were or allowed teams to get a little bit closer."

Following the Giants series, they still controlled their own fate. But they lost the next two games to the Padres. They won the series finale, but it was too late. Their fate was no longer in their hands. A split of a doubleheader the following Monday spelled doom for the D-backs' playoff hopes, as they packed up to go home.

Asked if he ever went back and watched that game, Lovullo responded tersely, "I haven't watched it one time, I don't think I ever will."

The importance of one game can be overblown or critically important. Ultimately, the games in April count as much in the standings as the ones in September, despite the outsized importance that may be attached to the late-season games.

That's something to remember as the 7-6 Diamondbacks look to win the games they're supposed to win. There have been several games already this year where mistakes on defense and baserunning have cost them a chance to win. The National League is stacked with good teams, and it will be a dogfight for the next five-plus months. Every game counts.