Highlights From Torey Lovullo's Pre Game 2 Press Conference

Torey Lovullo spoke to the media earlier today. The Diamondbacks manager has been having wonderful press conference, at times both informative and entertaining. There were fewer light moments today coming off a walk-off loss from the night before. It's still always a great experience getting to talk to him and gain his insights.

While the late game home runs given up were the story of the night, had the score remained at 5-3 and the Diamondbacks won a big part of the story would have been Lovullo sticking with struggling starter Zac Gallen after the third inning. Gallen pitched well in the 3rd and 4th innings, justifying his manager's faith in sending him back out there. Here is how Lovullo described that decision in it's entirety, unedited.

"I think after the third inning I just watched the body language. I had a brief conversation with him in the clubhouse about how he felt. He shared the frustration. He explained to me and was vulnerable in a way that made me think he was addressing what was needed to be addressed.

A lot of times you get very protected answers, like, I'm good, don't worry. I don't have that with our guys. I got like, I'm frustrated by this, and I need to be better at this. This is what I'm going to do to take care of that. It was very descriptive and deep. So when I watched it happen in the fourth, I knew that there was a really good chance that he was feeling something.

And it worked out pretty well because you're right; it was a very critical inning for us. I felt if we got through it, the bullpen was going to be lined up and we were going to win the baseball game. But we needed to get through that fourth inning. I felt he was the best guy based on what he gave me in that conversation and what I saw in the fourth inning."

Unfortunately for Lovullo and the Diamondbacks, they did not win the game. Corey Seager tied the game up in the bottom of the ninth, crushing a no-doubt homer with a man on base to erase a 5-3 Diamondbacks lead. The sound was deafening, easily the loudest of the post season this reporter has experienced so far. Here was Lovullo's reaction to that.

"When that ball was hit, went over the fence -- I've been in a lot of arenas. I've been on a football field with 100,000 fans cheering. That was easily the loudest crowd roar that I've ever heard. And well-deserved.

Lovullo discussed his decision to keep Alek Thomas in the lineup against the lefty Jordan Montgomery. It should be noted that Tommy Pham has been dealing with turf toe all postseason, perhaps limiting some of Lovullo's options. But for Lovullo it was mostly about defense and outfield coverage.

"Just a lot of room out there in center field. I wanted to make sure we were going to be running some baseballs down. And he actually swung the bat okay against him back at home. Reviewed those at-bats. And I felt like when you're fighting for every inch on a baseball field, you've got to lock down certain parts of it, pitching and defense are certainly top priorities for us.'

The D-backs bullpen had to work hard last night, with many of the relievers throwing high pitch count, high-stress innings. As such, a long outing from tonight's starter Merrill Kelly would be a big bonus for the D-backs. In his previous outing Lovullo had a quick hook, pulling Kelly after five innings, 90 pitches, much to the dismay of his veteran starter. If things are going well for Kelly that may not be the case tonight, based on the circumstances.

"When Merrill gets moving and he gets the line moving in the right direction, he gets some quick, easy outs, and it's nine-, 12-pitch innings. And I think he started to show that in Philadelphia in Game 6. There were some easy movements and he got through that fifth......I think that's where the frustration was coming from, that he felt very good. If he gets the line moving in the right way and the pitch count is low and we're in the right spot, of course, I'm going to press him a little bit, for sure."