For the past five weeks, the Diamondbacks have been winning games at a better clip than at any point in the season. It is likely no coincidence they are also playing perhaps their best defense of the year.
The difference between the type of defense they have displayed lately and the sloppy play they exhibited early in the year has been a sore spot for manager Torey Lovullo, to the point that he already is thinking about how he wants things to change come next spring.
Lovullo said on Friday, Sept. 5, that he wants to see more high-intensity drills, among other things, at camp next year — and that he does not want the newness of a season to be used as a crutch to explain away fundamental mistakes.
“The bottom line is, I want us to go as long as we can next April without making an error and without making a baserunning mistake,” Lovullo said. “It seems like, ‘Oh, this is brand new. It’s OK, I can make these mistakes.’ No, it’s not OK.
“I want us to go into mid-May without getting thrown out. I want us to go into mid-May without making an infield error. That’s my mindset. I want to put that on everybody.”
For the second year in a row, the club started slowly out of the gates. Both years, the defense was not up to the standards the Diamondbacks set during their late-season run in 2023, the year they leaned hard on their fundamental style to make a run to the World Series.
This year, the Diamondbacks went into the All-Star break with negative-28 defensive runs saved, ranking 27th among the 30 major league teams. The best in the league at that point were the Atlanta Braves at plus-56.
“The defense has been very bothersome this year,” Lovullo said. “It’s been inconsistent. It’s been slow. It’s lacked initiative and creativity. It was the middle of August, maybe the beginning of August, where it started to take off.
“That’s several months of baseball that I feel like we let get away from us.”
The Diamondbacks entered their weekend series against the Boston Red Sox at negative-13 on the season, having moved up to 22nd in the majors.
Some of the improvement, certainly, is due to a change in personnel. Blaze Alexander has been an obvious upgrade at third base, accumulating eight runs saved compared with the minus-4 that Eugenio Suarez compiled before being traded to Seattle.
Still, Lovullo admitted there might have been an assumption that the club’s veteran position players knew how to prepare themselves for the season when, in fact, they would have benefited from more of a push.
“That’s a very good lesson we all learned,” he said. “ … At the end of the day, we know what we have and we’re not going to take it for granted. Whether you’re a vet or not, it’s on. We’re going to train hard. I’m going to make that demand.”
Lovullo talked about possibly doing more work on machines that spit out high-velocity ground balls at defenders, a training method the team used a few years ago. He also talked about creating reminders about how important defense is, including by having a loop of defensive highlights playing regularly on televisions in the clubhouse.
The Diamondbacks had the fourth-best defense, per defensive runs saved, in 2023. They were 17th in 2024.
— Nick Piecoro
Red Sox at Diamondbacks, 6:40 p.m., KPNX Ch. 12, Cox, Ch. 34
Diamondbacks LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (6-8, 5.40) vs. Red Sox LHP Payton Tolle (0-0, 3.38).
At Chase Field: Rodriguez turned in a strong performance against the Dodgers last week at Dodger Stadium, firing six scoreless innings, working around four hits and four walks while striking out four. The Diamondbacks are hoping it stops what had been a rough stretch in which he allowed 34 earned runs in 47 innings (6.51 ERA) over his previous nine starts. … Rodriguez spent the first seven years of his big-league career with the Red Sox. In two starts against them, he has an 8.31 ERA in 8 2/3 innings. He last faced them in 2023. … Tolle made his major league debut against the Pirates last week, turning in an impressive outing in which he gave up just two hits, two walks and struck out eight in 5 1/3 innings. … Tolle reached the majors quickly after being drafted in the second round out of Texas Christian last year. … He averaged 96.2 mph with his fastball against the Pirates while also mixing in mostly cutters and change-ups with the occasional slider and curveball.
Coming up
Sept. 6: At Chase Field, 5:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Brandon Pfaadt (12-8, 5.33) vs. Red Sox RHP Lucas Giolito (10-2, 3.38).
Sept. 7: At Chase Field, 1:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Ryne Nelson (7-3, 3.57) vs. Red Sox RHP Brayan Bello (11-6, 3.07).
Sept. 8: At San Francisco, 6:45 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Nabil Crismatt (2-0, 2.14) vs. Giants TBA.
What to know about the Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox have had a tumultuous season that included the controversial decision to trade DH Rafael Devers to the Giants, but they find themselves in position to claim a wild-card spot in the American League. OF Roman Anthony has been one of the more productive hitters in baseball since he was called up in June, but he suffered an oblique injury earlier this week and might miss the rest of the regular season. 3B Alex Bregman missed some time with an injury this season, but has been good when he has played. He has a .281 average with 16 homers in 359 at-bats. SS Trevor Story has had a strong bounce-back season; he has a .296 average, 16 homers and 16 stolen bases since June 7. The Diamondbacks will not see LHP Garrett Crochet, who is a leading contender for the AL Cy Young Award. LHP Aroldis Chapman has been incredible, posting a 1.00 ERA in 54 innings. He is 28 for 30 in cut chances.
—Nick Piecoro
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