Ryan Thompson Talks Closer Paul Sewald, Diamondbacks' Identity

Arizona's sidewinding reliever gave his thoughts on relief roles, Paul Sewald's struggles and the club's recent surge.

Jul 31, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Ryan Thompson (81) pitches in the ninth inning against the Washington Nationals at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports / Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

As Arizona Diamondbacks closer Paul Sewald appeared to be on a collision course to his fifth blown save of the month in Wednesday night's game, manager Torey Lovullo opted to pull his closer with one out and the bases loaded.

Reliable sidewinding reliever Ryan Thompson's number was called, and the tall right-hander was able to put out the fire, as a 5-2 lead turned into a razor-thin 5-4 victory over the Nationals, completing the D-backs' first sweep since May.

Thompson has remained an excellent late-inning reliever for the D-backs so far in 2024, pitching to a 1.81 ERA and 0.96 WHIP over 43 appearances, but Wednesday's game marked his first save of the season. His previous save was August 27th, 2023.

It wasn't exactly when Thompson--or anyone--might have thought he'd be pitching, but he entered the game ready to get the job done.

Thompson spoke to reporters postgame, and explained his thought process going into an unexpected outing.

"I think it's just staying ready. I think Torey does a really good job of giving us a pretty good idea of how we're going to be used... So it's been really easy for us to kind of know how to prepare..."

"I think we do a really good job of just staying ready when that phone rings even though we have a good idea of what to expect, like the unexpected doesn't throw us for a loop," Thompson said.

The righty said he was one of a "number" of relievers who were ready to go in at that time in the game, but, while it might seem like a high-pressure situation, he approached it the same way he would any outing, without giving too much credence to the gravity of the situation.

“It’s just not glorifying those moments. Every moment in the big leagues is a big moment... In those situations, it’d be easy to make too much of it and cripple yourself in that situation, Just trying to stay even, every moment’s a big moment, every at-bat's a big at-bat, every team is good, every player that’s here is deserving to be here.

"There’s no at-bat that you can take lightly, I learned that in my career,” Thompson said.

But regardless of whether or not the sidewinder was able to clean up the mess left for him, the ninth inning has begun to loom as a spot of tension in the D-backs' bullpen.

Fans, analysts and media alike might look at Sewald's recent struggles and posit an instant change at the position, signing an early death certificate on Sewald's tenure as Arizona's closer.

But Thompson, even through Sewald's apparent disarray, maintains faith in his closer, and said that talks of his decline might be overblown.

“Honestly it’s just trust his stuff. He’s a really good pitcher... and the first thing you want to do is you want to start second guessing, but Paul, man, he’s a veteran."

“I think people from the outside are making more of it than they should. We’re not overthinking anything. I think a lot of Paul’s, what we’d say ‘bad outings,’ haven’t really been that bad, it’s just been bad results," Thompson said.

Those bad results can do damage to even the best pitchers' confidence, and is a persistent sore spot for fans and coaches alike. But the big righty said both Sewald and his teammates still trust in the closer's ability.

"He’s not pouting, he’s not overthinking it, he knows how good he is, and he know that he’s going to go out there the next time he gets the opportunity and get the job done," said Thompson, "we all in this clubhouse, we believe in Paul a lot, so we’re going to have a good stretch to end this season."

It's easy to focus on the negative results, especially when Sewald's struggles have left four, almost five wins on the field. But the D-backs, all blips considered, have played some of the best baseball in the league in July.

Arizona went 17-8 in July, the best record in MLB over that time. After starting the season 1-38 in games where they've trailed by multiple runs at any point, they also managed four of such comeback victories, including a chaotic walk-off ninth inning off All-Star closer Kyle Finnegan.

Such is the type of baseball we've come to expect from the snakes, although it hasn't felt as strong up to this point. But the D-backs are finding their chaos again, and playing good, cohesive baseball.

Thompson noted that it finally feels like the feel of the 2023 team is creeping back into the clubhouse and onto the field, as the team begins to return to the form he knew they could boast.

“I think this is what we expected from the beginning of the season. Injuries are injuries, and it’s easy to blame it on injuries, I just don't really think that we’ve played to the best of our ability up until this point."

Thompson said that it can be easy to examine Arizona's hot streak and assume they're playing above expectation. But the right-hander feels that this type of baseball is the expectation, and the team is ever-capable of playing at this high of a level.

At any rate, the D-backs are finding their identity again. Creating chaos on the basepaths, coming back into games they have no business winning, and doing whatever it takes to grit out wins as a team, rather than on the backs of one or two star players.

"We can start using the Answerbacks thing again, we can start using the 'embrace the chaos,' like all that stuff that seemed like it was a little silent for a while, it’s all back," Thompson said.

"All the vibe, the aura that we feel, it’s there. I feel the same way as we did in the postseason… it’s nothing that we didn’t expect, this is who we are."