Lourdes Gurriel Jr. delivered the big hit in the Diamondbacks’ 10-8 win over the Miami Marlins that secured a series sweep. Trailing 6-4 with the bases loaded, Gurriel smoked a ball off the base of the center field wall to clear them and give Arizona a 7-6 lead.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Torey Lovullo fires his shot with Gurriel and he clears the bases to put the #Dbacks ahead 7-6. pic.twitter.com/uKQcSwtEhT
— Burn City D-backs Talk????️ (@BurnCityDbacks) August 22, 2024
“In the preparation, I knew there was a possibility to face a lefty,” said Gurriel, through interpreter Rolando Valles in a postgame interview on Dbacks TV. “I was anticipating that was one of the options to exploit and put a good swing on it.”
That was a moment made possible thanks to some great at-bats ahead of him and some shrewd maneuvering from Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo. Lovullo waited until the right time of the game to unleash his bench against Marlins’ left-hander Andrew Nardi. Joc Pederson drew a key left-on-left walk against Nardi to extend the inning and Josh Bell singled through the left side of the infield to get Arizona within two. That’s when the Diamondbacks manager elected to bring in both Randal Grichuk and Gurriel.
“I was tempted a couple of times to do things during the course of the game, but I felt like I wanted to build an inning and have the right resources on the bench if we needed to start to maneuver,” said Lovullo during the postgame breakdown on Dbacks TV.
Lovullo admits those were tough decisions, including taking out the red-hot Adrian Del Castillo with over 100 friends and family supporting him in order to get Gurriel up to the plate in that key at-bat.
“I targeted certain things pregame that if we get to certain points, these were going to be the bench players that we’re going to fill in and it really worked out well. Gurriel had the huge three-run double. He’s a really good pinch-hitter, he goes up there engaged and it was a big moment for him.”
The Diamondbacks have won 33 of their last 46 games, on the strength of one of the best offenses in baseball. They’re averaging more than six runs per game over that stretch and lead all of Major League Baseball with 5.30 runs per game. It doesn’t seem to matter which nine players Lovullo puts in his lineup card, or who he decides comes off the bench in big situations, the team just finds a way to get the job done.
This includes a lineup that is missing their three best position players, with Ketel Marte, Christian Walker, and Gabriel Moreno. In addition, they’ve had lengthy absences from Geraldo Perdomo and Alek Thomas. Corbin Carroll and Eugenio Suárez endured awful slumps in the first half of the season. Ultimately, those elements of adversity turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as now they’ve gained the confidence that they can beat anyone anywhere down the stretch.
“Nobody knows who’s going to contribute in this game, but the main factor is to stay focused pitch-by-pitch,” said Gurriel. “That’s how they get it done.”
That carries similar sentiments to the “Anyone. Any time.” mantra from the Diamondbacks’ 2007 season. That team won 90 games and a National League West despite a negative run differential due to their ability to win close games. Bob Melvin, nicknamed the “Mad Scientist” for his ability to maneuver those close games and squeeze every little bit out of his roster, was the National League Manager of the Year. That’s an award that Lovullo should be considered a frontrunner this season.
The Diamondbacks are fastly closing on another postseason berth, with their magic number to clinch down to 30 with 34 games to go. They’ll have a chance to put a huge dent in that number when they play the Mets next week, but the first task at hand is trying to beat the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
