Torey Lovullo Managing His Pitchers Like the Postseason

With the Diamondbacks locked in a tight Wild Card race, Lovullo is trying to extract as many wins as possible.

The Diamondbacks currently find themselves locked in a tight Wild Card with just two weeks left into the season. With five teams vying for two postseason spots, every win they can get is valuable. Coveting each potential win, manager Torey Lovullo had a quicker hook for his starting pitchers against the Chicago Cubs. That enabled them to sweep the Cubs with Brandon Pfaadt, Zach Davies, and Ryne Nelson as their three starters.

"I am doing things with our starting pitcher that I haven't done ever. I'm clipping guys at 65-75 pitches, and I feel like there's a script in my head I'm comfortable with. I want their best effort, but I think this is just a little bit different. I want to match it up to help us win a baseball game the best way I know how."

The discussions with the front office on the shift in pitcher usage began about a week before Lovullo started putting it into practice. With the D-backs needing to win every series down the stretch, it's incumbent on the manager to treat every one of them like a postseason series. 

In his tenure Lovullo has only managed four postseason games with Arizona, but there is past precedence for managing a game like this. The 2017 Wild Card game against the Colorado Rockies serves as the best . Zack Greinke started the game and ran into trouble in the fourth inning, allowing four runs in the inning before getting pulled with two outs. Then Lovullo brought in Robbie Ray, who picked up seven critical outs before handing the ball to the backend of the bullpen to finish the game. 

"It was very scripted there as well, we had to win a baseball game, there's not a lot of time to sit and wait. I pay attention, I learn, and I'm going to continue to try to move the ball forward making the best decision possible."

The decision to pull his starters early have paid off major dividends for Lovullo and the D-backs. Arizona's bullpen ranks third in baseball with a 2.34 ERA in the month of September, further justifying the decision to be more aggressive with his bullpen. It has enabled them to avoid those big innings that would otherwise take them out of games, giving the offense a chance to come back later in the game. In all their three wins against the Cubs, they had a lead when they pulled their starter. In two of those three games, the bullpen did not surrender the lead. 

In order to make the final push to get in, the D-backs will need their manager to continue to push the right buttons at the right time for their pitching staff. There are only 11 games left in the season and realistically they'll need to win at least seven to comfortably claim a Wild Card spot.