MLB WORLD SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS RANGERS

October 30, 2023

Torey Lovullo

Chase Field

Arizona Diamondbacks

Postgame 3 Press Conference

Rangers - 3, Diamondbacks - 1

Q. Brandon Pfaadt went five and a third innings. How important was it for him to go that deep into the game?

TOREY LOVULLO: It was super important, considering what we're going to go through tomorrow. We're still discussing who that starting pitcher will be.

But pitching into the sixth inning, giving us a little bit extra was a big moment for him because I know I extended him a little bit but he accepted that responsibility. He did enough to win the baseball game.

Unfortunately, we just couldn't get him any run support. That was the difference in the game, for me.

Q. What was your vantage point there that call on Moreno?

TOREY LOVULLO: You're trying to get me in trouble, I know. The world's watching right now.

I'm not happy about it. I know that if they were off the plate and there were missed calls, they've got to tighten it up. I say that to everybody.

But I will say this, that the umps are doing their absolute best. Ball is moving at a high velocity. It's getting manipulated at home plate. But there were some calls that didn't go our way today. Was that the difference in the game? I don't know. I don't think so.

They took advantage of it, let's put it that way. If they were missed calls, they took advantage of it and won the baseball game the way they needed to.

Q. On that subject, I know there was another one in the third inning with Pfaadt; it was a little more borderline. But in those situations I know they tested it out in the minors. Would you like to have a challenge system in big moments like that to just kind of make sure you can get those calls right?

TOREY LOVULLO: I'm probably going to punt on that right now. I know, like I said, Major League baseball is doing a really good job of staying ahead of things. And they're doing their absolute best.

I said it today when you guys asked me about the roof being open. I said if there's a level playing field, that's all I care about. I just want it to be neutralized. And everybody has the same crack at getting things right. And the umpires are doing their absolute best.

Before I go any further, I know Jung's first and second at-bat potentially should have been struck out. But it is what it is. Like I said, the umpires are doing the absolute best. I don't want to make a huge deal of it. I can go throw my hat in the office do all I want to do in there. I may or may not.

I probably will but I've got to find a way to turn the page and work through the frustration of what happened today.

Q. Christian running through a stop sign that may or may not have been put up late, just wanted to get your vantage point on that. Secondly, just did that feel like a turning point, like, from the press box it looked like a turning point in the game. The offense got shut down from there for a while.

TOREY LOVULLO: At very critical times of the game, whether it's the first inning or second inning, you just don't know when it's going to happen, we've been really good at being able to execute at a high level.

Yeah, I feel like that was a huge momentum swing. You're looking at first and third, potentially, and no outs. And a lot of people liked to play out the next set of circumstances -- a pop up and a ground ball off the pitcher's arm. But who knows? The timing, everything would have been different; we may have scored a bunch of runs. You just don't know what would have happened. The outcome would have been totally different.

The beauty of it is we should have been better in that situation. Christian Walker owned it. He accepted it. He was accountable for his actions, and I know I will still consider him one of our best instinctual base runners. I think it was just a misread and trying to make up for it. And he compounded things, and it didn't go the way we wanted it to.

Was it pivotal moment in the game? Absolutely. And we talk about making statements. I'm not going to lie. It hurt a little bit. And they turned around and scored three runs. That was a big moment. We got flat there for a couple innings.

Q. Seems like this is the kind of team that has a moment somewhere in the game and once that moment happens, the offense just ignites. A couple times tonight it looked like that was going to happen and then it just didn't. Did you sense anything at all before the game?

TOREY LOVULLO: Nothing before the game. Everything was business as usual. And you're right, I get the same feeling every single time when somebody grabs the keys to the cars and cranks it up, the line gets moving and it's a lot of fun for me to watch. That's where I've become a fan and we put up big, crooked numbers.

But they made pitches when they had to. I thought Gray coming in, it was the second time he came in, shut us down for whatever it was, three innings. And he made pitches when he had to.

We had a chance against him. We had a chance against Scherzer. But it's a game of capitalizing on the right pitch at the right time. And sometimes it's with two outs and we just didn't get that job done today. They did. They got a two-out hit from Semien and a two-run home run from Seager. And that was the difference in a game.

Q. Tough loss. You put up nine yesterday, just one today. Was it missed opportunities? Was it vagaries of the sport? Was it something in the game plan? What led to such an offensive outburst yesterday and such a lack of it today?

TOREY LOVULLO: I understand, two days ago. I don't know. I feel like we never got into a rhythm offensively for whatever reason that was. I thought we had a good approach against Scherzer. And just as we were honing in on him they made a changeover to Gray.

We had one opportunity against him; we didn't capitalize. I can't put my finger on it. I think our guys were very engaged and understood that Scherzer was going to probably give them 50 to 70 pitches. And he was out of the game with some sort of an injury. I don't know exactly what happened.

But at the end of the day we do have to be better. I think our offense is very capable against any type of pitching, whether it's a reliever or starter. We just got beat. We got beat. We got maybe out-executed. And we've got to figure that out.

Q. Along the lines of the offense, Christian Walker, talk about the base running and the hit tonight, but just the last couple of games, have you seen like maybe he's on the verge. He's had a lot of hard-hit balls. Is he on the verge of breaking out? And how big is that going to be for your club and helping that offense take the next step?

TOREY LOVULLO: It will be huge. We count on him offensively. He's been somebody that in a lot of different ways has been a catalyst for us, whether it's getting on base, having a good at-bat or driving runners in. You don't have 100 RBIs or 105 RBIs unless you're doing something right.

We need him to get going. I do love the crowd support. I know I caught wind of it at some point during the day when I came in here earlier that there were some groundswell to have the crowd pick him up a little bit, Trea Turner style.

And I felt it. It worked. I know he's been working really hard. He hit a couple hundred-mile-an-hour balls today. It's been showing up over the past couple of days. Yes getting him going is crucial but I think he's very close right now.