Diamondbacks go for sweep Sunday against Padres

Lovullo drops Lamb as D-Backs seek help vs. LHP

SAN DIEGO – With a left-hander on the mound Sunday in the Padres’ Clayton Richard, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo dropped third baseman Jake Lamb from his customary cleanup spot into the No. 7 hole.

Lamb has struggled against lefties this season, hitting just .167, and opposing clubs recently have exploited those issues, pitching around No. 3 hitter Paul Goldschmidt to get to Lamb.

“It was obvious to me there was a certain game plan that lefties had against us, certain strategies they had against us,” Lovullo said. “I just wanted to take a little pressure off of Jake, allow him to not feel the pressure of the moment and have him deliver in certain situations.”

Lovullo said he still believes in Lamb and still plans to play him regularly against lefties. He said that although Lamb’s results haven’t been good, his at-bats against lefties have improved.

He said he called Lamb into his office last week at Chase Field to discuss the idea of dropping him in the lineup, and Lamb was on board, telling him to do whatever was best for the team.

Despite having a lineup filled predominantly with right-handed hitters, the Diamondbacks have not performed well against lefties, ranking just 11th in the league with a .708 OPS against them.

“I can’t explain it, either,” Lovullo said. “I felt like we had a very strong right-handed hitting team that was going to exploit left-handed pitching, and it’s just not happening right now. It’s my job to pay attention to those things and tinker and change when the time was right, and I felt like this was the right situation for it.”

D-Backs thriving despite Pollock injury

SAN DIEGO – A year ago, when the Diamondbacks lost center fielder A.J. Pollock to an elbow fracture just prior to Opening Day, the injury appeared to sink their season before it even began, seemingly sucking the life out of their lineup.

But since losing Pollock last weekend to a groin injury, the Diamondbacks are unbeaten in five games and averaging more than seven runs per game. Granted, it’s only been a week and they’re not facing the stiffest of competition, but the difference compared to last year has been stark.

“I’m not sure I’ve really put my finger on it,” hitting coach Dave Magadan said, “but I think when we had our meeting right after A.J. got hurt, we talked about how we’re just going to have to pick up the slack, and that’s exactly what guys have done.”

Outfielder Gregor Blanco was among those to speak up during that meeting, and he said Sunday he wanted to tell his teammates about his experience with the San Francisco Giants, who in recent years were able to overcome a number of key injuries.

“It’s not easy having such a good player like A.J. going on the DL,” Blanco said. “The team can kind of feel like, ‘Wow, now what?’”

But he said the Giants lost guys like Angel Pagan and Hunter Pence to injuries and Melky Cabrera to suspension but didn’t miss a beat. They did that, he said, because “everybody on the team (had) your back.”

“It was just that we had to step up and do the best for the team,” Blanco said. “I learned from that experience and I wanted to just bring it here and say it.

“That’s what winning teams do. That’s what I was trying to say. Everybody back each other up.”

The Diamondbacks still haven’t provided a timetable for Pollock’s return, other than to say he is expected to miss more than the minimum 10 days.

Sunday’s game

When: 1:40 p.m.

Where: Petco Park, San Diego.

Pitchers: Diamondbacks RHP Zack Godley (1-0, 1.93) vs. Padres LHP Clayton Richard (2-5, 4.86).

TV/Radio: FSAZ/KMVP-FM (98.7), KHOV-FM (105.1).

Godley threw well again on Monday night against the Mets, giving up just one run in 6 2/3 innings. He walked five but allowed just one hit, striking out seven. … In the start before that, he gave up one run in seven innings against the Tigers. … Opponents are just 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position against Godley. … Richard has been struggling in recent starts, posting a 6.67 ERA in his past five, including allowing six runs in six innings against the Brewers on Tuesday. … He threw well against the Diamondbacks at Petco Park on April 20 (6 2/3 innings, one run) but was hammered by them five days later at Chase Field (3 2/3 innings, six runs).

More D-Backs: Godley’s pitch mix helps explain his success

Sunday’s Lineup

Dropped Lamb to seventh vs. a lefty, he’s struggled to protect Goldschmidt.

More: D-Backs doing what good teams do: Beating subpar teams

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If there’s anything especially different about the way Zack Godley is pitching this year, something to explain the success he’s been having through three starts with the Diamondbacks, he points to the fingers his catchers have been putting down before every pitch.

“In the three games I’ve thrown so far, I think I’ve probably shaken a total of five or six times,” Godley said. “They know what needs to be called and I have all the trust in the world in them.”

In 18 2/3 innings, Godley has allowed just four earned runs. Though he’s walked nine he’s also struck out 19 and given up just nine hits.

While there’s probably some good fortune involved in the low hit total, he’s also suppressing hard contact; hitters’ average exit velocity against Godley is 82.9 mph, well below the big league average of 86.9 mph, according to Statcast data.

The Diamondbacks’ 9-1 victory on Saturday night against the San Diego Padres – a team they’ve outscored 19-2 in the first two games of this series – was their fifth consecutive win overall, following a three-game series sweep against a New York Mets team that the Diamondbacks caught at what might have been low point of the Mets’ season.

That’s not to take anything away from what they’ve accomplished; the wins all count the same in the end. It’s just that the Diamondbacks have been doing what good teams are supposed to do: They haven’t been missing the layups.

• At 26-18, they own the league’s third-best record.
• At plus-51, they have the second-best run differential.
• For what it’s worth, they’re 11-10 against teams .500 or better and 15-8 against losing teams.

And no team appears to be worse than the Padres. Not only do they have the worst record in the league at 15-30, they also have the NL’s worst run differential, having been outscored by 89 runs through 45 games, putting them on pace to be outscored by 320 runs this season.

Coming up

Monday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zack Greinke (5-2, 3.09) vs. White Sox RHP Miguel Gonzalez (3-4, 4.29).

Tuesday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Patrick Corbin (3-4, 4.38) vs. White Sox RHP Dylan Covey (0-3, 7.64).

Wednesday: At Chase Field, 12:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Taijuan Walker (4-3, 3.46) vs. White Sox LHP Jose Quintana (2-5, 3.92).

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