Why did the Diamondbacks go to Paul Sewald in key moment of loss to Dodgers?

PHOENIX — In a shootout 10-9 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday, the Arizona Diamondbacks had to make some tough decisions with the bullpen. Ryan Thompson was unavailable and manager Torey Lovullo wanted to stay away from Justin Martinez, as the duo had pitched in each of the previous two games.

Lovullo had some maneuvering to do, and his pitchers did not get the job done.

Starter Zac Gallen did not have great feel for his pitches early, although he gutted out five innings and left with the two sides tied 5-5.

The biggest moment for the bullpen came in the seventh inning when Paul Sewald entered down 6-5 with two runners on and one out.

Two batters into Sewald’s outing, Dodgers catcher Will Smith broke the game open with a three-run homer. Sewald missed his spot with a fastball in after Smith looked pretty hopeless on back-to-back sweepers. Lovullo thought the pitch should have been down-and-away to freeze Smith.

HR No. 17 for Will Smith is an insurance BLAST 💥 pic.twitter.com/ljT3REZHRn

— MLB (@MLB) August 31, 2024

Why Sewald? Kevin Ginkel, who has not allowed an earned run in his last 11 games, had previously warmed up, but Lovullo wanted to save him and A.J. Puk for a situation in which the D-backs were ahead. Jordan Montgomery was also not available.

“I can’t run away from everybody, and I want to give Paul a chance to get some rhythm and go in there and and find his way,” Lovullo said.

“It’s getting better. Believe it or not, I know it’s hard for me to sit here and convince you guys of that based on what his line score look like, but it’s getting better. I think we’re an arm fake away from executing an out at third base and being out of that inning.”

Sewald then allowed a second home run, this time a solo shot by Shohei Ohtani in the eighth inning on an 0-2 fastball right down the middle.

Ohtani’s homer became the difference in the game, as an Eugenio Suarez two-run shot cut the deficit to one run in the ninth inning.

The D-backs have not named Martinez the closer despite the 23-year-old filling that role over the past three weeks. Lovullo continues to leave the door open for Sewald to retain that status, but Sewald has allowed runs in three straight games and Friday’s performance proved costly.

“The thing I like about him is he’s landing the slider and I know last year it was kind of reverse. It was a lot of four-seam fastballs, and he couldn’t find the slider,” Lovullo said. “He’s got to find that fastball location.”

The Dodgers took a 6-5 lead in the sixth inning on a Joe Mantiply wild pitch, scoring a run charged to Dylan Floro. Mantiply was charged with two runs on Smith’s homer.

Diamondbacks’ first-and-third play

Lovullo highlighted a first-and-third play just before Smith’s home run that he felt made a significant difference in the game.

With runners on the corners, Los Angeles’ Teoscar Hernandez stole second. Instead of throwing down, catcher Jose Herrera pump faked to second and ran toward third. Mookie Betts was caught well off the bag, but Herrera had to wait a beat for Suarez to cover before throwing the ball. Betts just beat the throw to keep Smith’s at-bat alive.

“I thought we got him, but I played deep. I played almost in the grass. That’s why I didn’t make it to third,” Suarez said. “I thought if I played short there, we got him because that was a good play. … As a runner, when you see the third baseman play that deep, you got a chance to break off hard like he did and you’ve got a chance to be back. That’s what happened on that play.”

Lovullo admitted he had not yet reviewed the play, but he was frustrated by the failure to record the out. He said they practice it in spring training a lot, and he would take a closer look at the execution.

Follow @alexjweiner