Following the Diamondbacks’ 11-6 loss to the Dodgers, manager Torey Lovullo was none too pleased about how his team executed on the field. There were a lot of unforced errors in this game, which added up to another frustrating loss. There was poor two-strike pitch execution with an open base, a runner was thrown out on the bases on a 3-0 pitch, and there were several defensive miscues.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!“This game is all about execution,” said Lovullo. “When you don’t do it well, it shows up like that. We pride ourselves on having a high baseball IQ and when we make mistakes it winds up like that. You can’t play a game like that, especially against a team like that, and get away with it.”
Lovullo took responsibility for that game and vowed those things will be addressed internally with the players.
One key mistake came in the sixth inning. Jake McCarthy opened the inning with a single. With Josh Bell at the plate, McCarthy tried to steal second on a 3-0 count and was thrown out by Will Smith. Bell walked on the next pitch and Pavin Smith followed up with another walk. Instead of having the bases loaded with one out, where a base hit to the outfield could have tied the game, they had two runners on and two outs.
“I don’t put the red light on, I expect our players to know the situation about when you’re supposed to take risks like that. When you’re down 3-1, you basically got to be standing up at the base if you’re going to take that risk. If it’s anything close to might not be safe, you shut it down.”
Even though the walks ended up chasing Flaherty from the game, the caught stealing helped the Dodgers get out of the inning with no damage. Adrian Del Castillo struck out against left-handed reliever Alex Vesia. The Dodgers then scored three runs on Jordan Montgomery and Slade Cecconi in the top of the seventh to put the game out of reach.
“Not only was it a huge out for them, it was a boost for their entire team, they went out and put up three points the next inning. Those things happen all the time. It was like ‘Wow, what were they thinking? They gave us a free out.’ We ended up getting a walk and a base hit and it could have been a huge number for us. Instead it’s two outs, first and second, and we were one base hit away from doing a good job but we had that second out at second base. We can’t let that happen.”
Lovullo then noted he felt Flaherty was vulnerable in that inning, but the caught stealing gave him a little boost and ultimately the win.
The other mistake Lovullo referred to was from Cecconi. Too often in critical situations he left a couple of two-strike fastballs in the middle of the plate with an open base and got burned. The first one was to Will Smith, which led to a two-run single that increased the deficit from three runs to five. The other came against Freddie Freeman, who crushed a middle-middle fastball for a two-run home run.
Here’s a plot of Cecconi’s four-seam fastballs in two-strike counts on the day.
Slade Cecconi four-seam fastball pitch chart in two-strike counts. Courtesy of Baseball Savant.
The Diamondbacks are still in the driver’s seat to take the top Wild Card spot, even as their National League West division chances have dwindled down to almost zero. They’ll have to clean up the mistakes they’ve made over their past seven games in order to maintain their lead in that race.
Diamondbacks lose finale 11-6, drop season series to the Dodgers
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Cardinals, and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
