Who are the Options for the D-backs Sunday Starter?

With injuries, and a tired bullpen after 10 games in 10 days already, Torey Lovullo might need to get creative.

Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo (17) walks to the dugout after a pitching change against the Texas Rangers during the second inning in Game 4 of the 2023 World Series at Chase Field in Phoenix, AZ. The DBacks lost to the Rangers 11-7, putting the Ranger at 3-1 in the World Series. / Rob Schumacher/Arizona Republic / USA

The Diamondbacks starter for this Sunday against the San Diego Padres is still listed as TBD. Originally scheduled to be rookie Blake Walston, he was placed on the injured list with a sore elbow Thursday. The team made a flurry of roster moves to bolster the bullpen, which included calling up starter Humberto Castellanos and reliever Joe Jacques

Castellanos last started on May 31st. It's believed that he is on the roster to provide length and long relief should the need arise. Jacques is a left-hand short reliever who replaced Brandon Hughes.

Some of the Diamondbacks options for Sunday June 9th include the following:

• Have Castellanos make the start if he's not required to pitch in relief on Friday or Saturday

• Call up Tommy Henry to start. He lines up on four days rest, having last pitched on June 4th,. Henry has a 3.41 ERA in six starts since being demoted

• Call up Cristian Mena to make his MLB debut. He last pitched June 2nd. He had a 3.42 ERA and 54K's in his first 10 starts, but has given up 11 runs in 11 innings in his last two, ballooning his ERA to 4.43

• Utilize an opener and then bring in one of the above three pitchers to be the "bulk" pitcher. This is a strong possibility no matter who they go with from among the three above.

• Go straight bullpen game, utilizing six to eight pitchers to get through the game. This seems like much less of a possibility.

Note that long relievers Logan Allen and Bryce Jarvis should both be unavailable for Friday's game. In Allen's case, he is out for Saturday too, as he just threw 75 pitches on Wednesday. Jarvis could be available on Saturday perhaps. However, he is on pace for 90 innings and throws a lot of pitches due to control problems. The team needs to be careful there.

Paul Sewald, Ryan Thompson, Kevin Ginkel, and Joe Mantiply all worked Thursday night and have all worked a lot recently. See the table below. They are shown in Yellow for Caution in the chart below. It's unknown if any among them is unavailable, but Torey Lovullo would certainly like to stay away if possible. Justin Martinez, Jacques, and Castellanos are all marked in Green and available for Friday night.

D-backs Bullpen Workload last seven days / Jack Sommers

Brandon Pfaadt is the Friday night starter, and he's been very dependable, completing six innings or more in nine of 12 starts and pitching into the 6th in two others. If Lovullo can get six or seven innings from Pfaadt tonight that opens up a lot more options for him to get through the rest of the weekend. Monday will be the D-backs first off day after 13 games in 13 days.