Diamondbacks Spring Training: March 30, 2022
Tuesday saw another Arizona Diamondbacks spring training workout in the morning. In the afternoon, the team played a 1 pm exhibition game against their co-tenants, the Colorado Rockies. The game featured the first spring outing of Diamondbacks right-hander Zac Gallen, who faced Rockies ace German Márquez.
Manager Torey Lovullo said that Tuesday was “another good workday. (Today we) got into some finer, more specific types of details with our team fundamentals and individual fundamentals. Some things that force these guys to think a little bit, be active on their feet, and react to any given situation.”
Torey Lovullo Pre-game
Lovullo gave some health updates. Shortstop Nick Ahmed received some cortisone injections in his shoulder and will have zero baseball activity for 10 days “and then we’ll build around that.” Lovullo cannot yet give a timeline. Right fielder Jordan Luplow had to leave Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers with an injury. Imaging revealed that it is a Grade One strain of the right oblique muscle. The length of time he will miss “is not in terms of days.” Given that Luplow is one of the few right-handed-hitting outfielders on the roster, his absence will cause the Diamondbacks to do some shuffling.
Lovullo is looking forward to finally seeing Gallen against another team. “He’s worked hard to make this happen. It’s going to hopefully get up to three (innings) and 45 (pitches). We’ll continue to evaluate him as we do with all the other guys.” Lovullo is looking for “the ability to repeat his delivery. Throw the fastball where he wants, knowing that he’s got some safe spots that he can land certain pitches in. Win the first three pitches, get to that two-strike count, finish off hitters as quickly as possible. When he’s going well, that’s what he looks like.
But this is his first outing. I’m afraid he’s gonna be a little amped up. He’s gonna work into his velocity and work into his outing, but he’ll get there by the end of it. I feel like he’s going to do what I’m asking or what I’m expecting to see.”
Zac Gallen
Gallen had much success in his outing, pitching 2 2/3 innings while going through the lineup once. He only surrendered one baserunner, and it came on a single by Ryan McMahon. After the game, Gallen acknowledged that he felt good on the mound. “(The baseball) was coming out pretty well. Delivery felt pretty good. Everything was there for strikes. Just the one backfoot slider to (Sam) Hilliard was about the one pitch I’d like to be able to execute again. But other than that, I felt pretty good out there.”
Gallen said it was nice to be on the mound facing a different team, as he was tired of backfield games and wanted to “see another uniform.” He felt good about every single pitch in his arsenal, saying they behaved the way they wanted to. The lone exception was the pitch he mentioned earlier.
The Game
The Diamondbacks took a 1–0 lead in the fourth on back-to-back one-out doubles off Márquez by third baseman Josh Rojas and catcher Carson Kelly. In the bottom of that inning, Mark Melancon took the hill. Third baseman Ryan McMahon and first baseman C.J. Cron led off with back-to-back singles. On the latter, a fielding error by right fielder Daulton Varsho allowed McMahon to score and Cron to reach second. A walk by Randal Grichuk and a 6–4 force play at second put Cron on third and Sam Hilliard on first with one out. Garrett Hampson brought Cron in on a sacrifice fly to give the Rockies a 2–1 lead.
Left fielder David Peralta tied the game with his fourth homer of the spring, a no-doubter to right-center. A seven-run top of the ninth, one where the Diamondbacks sent 11 hitters to the plate, finalized the score at 9–2.
Torey Lovullo Postgame
Lovullo said after the game, “Long before the ninth inning, I was feeling good about the things we were doing on the mound and the at-bats we were having. We ended up winning the game, which is great, we always want to win the game. But inside of the game, there are so many different things that were taking place that I was very pleased with. Zac getting up on the mound and executing a game plan. He wanted that last batter, but we wanted to match up a little bit and give (Kyle) Nelson a chance to go into a left-on-left situation.”
Lovullo said that Melancon, Ian Kennedy, Caleb Smith, and J.B. Wendelken all “threw the ball extremely well.” He continued, “From a pitching standpoint, I’m very pleased. (Offensively), we squared up the baseball. David (Peralta) had the big home run that tied the game. Then we had the seven runs in that ninth inning. Good at-bats. Guys were waiting for pitches.”
Daulton Varsho played right field, something that the team began discussing 10 days ago. With the Luplow injury, the timing was fortuitous. Lovullo said Varsho is more comfortable in center, but they are trying to get him more comfortable in right and left, also.
Jake McCarthy
Center fielder Jake McCarthy came off the bench and went 2-for-2 with a home run and three RBI. Lovullo, recently, has seen from McCarthy “a balanced approach. (He’s) getting a ball that he can get some extension on and driving it, slugging it. There were a couple of line drives to left-center field that were also very impressive. That’s hard to do. You’ve got to do a lot in your swing to be able to drive the ball the opposite way the way he has.
“The home run is great. It’s a built-in approach, a ball up out over the plate, and he got the barrel moving in the right direction. The important thing for Jake is to continue to survey the strike zone, not try to do too much, square up the ball, and hit it the direction that he wants to.”
Looking Ahead
Diamondbacks spring training continues Thursday, March 31. They will hold camp in the morning before hosting the San Diego Padres. Padres lefty Blake Snell will face Diamondbacks righty Luke Weaver, with first pitch scheduled for 1:10 pm.
Main Photo:
Players mentioned:
Zac Gallen, German Márquez, Torey Lovullo, Nick Ahmed, Jordan Luplow, Josh Rojas, Carson Kelly, Mark Melancon, Ryan McMahon, C.J. Cron, Daulton Varsho, Randal Grichuk, Sam Hilliard, Garrett Hampson, David Peralta, Ian Kennedy, Caleb Smith, J.B. Wendelken, Jake McCarthy, Blake Snell, Luke Weaver
