Torey Lovullo Ejection Fires Up Diamondbacks
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Torey Lovullo knew the moment he came out of the dugout in the top of the third inning to argue balls and strikes with home plate umpire Gabe Morales he was going to get ejected. "I felt like I had enough of certain calls that were made" , Lovullo said. "I just felt like I needed to make a statement to tell him how I felt".
It seemed to work as the balance of calls that had been going against the Diamondbacks seemed to stabilize. More importantly the team responded by turning a 1-0 lead into a 7-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers to get to 8-5 and stand alone atop the NL West division.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a three run homer in the bottom of the third to put the D-backs up 4-0 at the time. It was Gurriel's first homer as a Diamondback. He's been driving the ball a lot lately and you could see this type of game coming for him. He also had a single and a double. He said this is the result of the adjustments that he's been making.
Then in the 7th inning, after the Brewers had rallied to within 5-3, Corbin Carroll hit his third homer of the year, an opposite field two run shot to put the game on ice.
Drey Jameson was dominant for four innings. Having worked out of the bullpen to start the year, he was not fully stretched out due to throwing just 26 pitches and 38 pitches in his previous two relief outings. He threw 54 pitches today, relying heavily on the his sinker. He recorded six groundouts, four strikeouts, and two popouts on the infield, and didn't walk a batter, giving up just two singles and double.
After the game, Jameson was asked about his manager having his back.
"It's always nice, because those pitches were really close , if not there. To know that your manager is right behind you, agreeing with you that [the umpire] is squeezing a little bit and not giving us borderline calls, let alone strikes."
Josh Rojas, as he often is was a bit more animated and direct when asked about the ejection
"I love it, it's one of my favorite things" Rojas said to much laughter. "He's such a laid back guy....He'll chirp a little bit from the dugout, but he's not a big chirper. It's usually coming from Banny (Bench coach Jeff Bannister), or a lot of the players. When something fires Torey up and gets him out there and gets him ejected I love it."
"When I saw he had to go under the railing to get out to the field I was excited for him to get out there and I knew just with the effort he gave to get under that railing so fast I knew he was getting tossed"
Rojas was much more than a spectator in this game. He had yet another three hit game, his fourth in just nine games. Most impressive today perhaps, was the fact that he hit a double off the left field wall in the 4th and then pulled another double to the right field wall in the 8th. He scored two runs and drove in a run. He's now batting .400, (14-35) with five doubles seven runs, and six RBI.
The one moment of the game where it felt like things might go south was in the top of the 7th. Luis Frias came in and gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Then Mike Brousseau singled home a run, and Bannister went out to pull him from the game. Andrew Chafin came in and got a ground ball from Christian Yelich, but with Geraldo Perdomo playing all the way over almost behind the second base bag the ball went through the hole for a two run single.
Chafin then shut the inning down quickly in just a couple of pitches, making great defensive plays in the process. Christian Walker started a 3-6-1 double play and Chafin barely was able to keep his foot on the bag as he made a tumbling catch to record the out. Then Brian Anderson hit a line shot up the box that Chafin snared for the final out, shutting down the Milwaukee rally.
Kyle Nelson worked an inning and third, striking out three, and was the winning pitcher. His record is now 2-0. He's allowed just one run in 5.1 innings so far this year. Janson Junk took the loss for the Brewers in his season debut, giving up five runs.
The Diamondbacks travel to Miami tonight, then enjoy a day off tomorrow before the series opener against the Marlins Friday evening. Left-handers Madison Bumgarner and Trevor Rogers will face off. That game starts at 3:40 P.M. MST, 6:40 P.M. EST
Be sure to tune into all the manager and player reactions in the audio link below as we take you Inside the Diamondbacks.
