Ron Gardenhire has successful surgery

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Surgery successful for D-Backs’ Gardenhire

SAN DIEGO – Ron Gardenhire had successful surgery on Tuesday to remove his prostate, manager Torey Lovullo said, and the Diamondbacks are hoping they’ll have their bench coach back in action sometime in the next four-to-six weeks.

Gardenhire was diagnosed with prostate cancer just before the start of spring training, and surgery was scheduled for this week.

“He was packing up his bags and getting ready to leave the hospital today and head home for some much-needed rest,” Lovullo said Wednesday. “He wanted to make sure that I said thank you to everybody for all the texts, phone calls and support and that definitely helped for some of those moments yesterday and this morning when he was really grinding away.”

Gardenhire was with the team for the first seven games of the season but stayed home when the club left on its current road trip, with Triple-A Reno manager Jerry Narron taking his place as bench coach. Lovullo said he’ll let Gardenhire dictate when he returns.

“It’s when he’s ready and he’s comfortable to step back in this environment, that’s when it will happen,” Lovullo said. “I have a funny feeling that he’s going to be here behind the scenes until he feels comfortable getting back into the dugout.”

Matching ‘em up

For the fourth time out of four Zack Greinke starts, catcher Jeff Mathis was behind the plate. Lovullo has said since the start of spring training he doesn’t believe in personal catchers, but he suggested on Wednesday the tandem might remain a couple more often than not.

“I think that if I’m seeing a certain comfort level or results that are very positive, if it lines up, I will continue to do that,” Lovullo said. “I’m not going to have guys bend over backwards or changing routines or their patterns just to have the matchups. If it works and it lines up, we’re far enough out in front of putting lineups together that we’re going to stay with that. I think Zack knows and understands that it’s not going to be like that all year long.”

Lovullo said the first thing he looks at is how the pitcher and catcher are working together. He’ll consider how the catcher matches up with the opposing pitcher after that.

Smart play

Lovullo is generally not a fan of the sacrifice bunt, but he has no issues with his players bunting for hits, and he liked what he saw from Chris Owings in the fourth inning on Tuesday night.

Owings dropped down a bases-loaded bunt against Padres reliever Craig Stammen, who fielded the ball, double-clutched and threw wildly to first base, allowing two runs to score.

“He recognized there was a gap in the defense at that moment and it was a central play,” Lovullo said. “It was really the difference in the game. I think that was the catalyst for the big inning.”

Lovullo said Owings bunted on his own, and he appreciated the timing of it, given that Stammen had just entered the game following an injury to starting pitcher Jarred Cosart and, he said, likely wasn’t anticipating a bunt.

Herrmann filling in for Tomas in left field

Lineup notes: With Jhoulys Chacin on the mound for the Padres, Torey Lovullo opted to go with Chris Herrmann in left field, in place of Yasmany Tomas. Lefties are hitting .344 off Chacin this season, compared to .276 for right-handed hitters. Additionally, Nick Ahmed takes over for Chris Owings at shortstop.

1. A.J. Pollock CF

2. David Peralta RF

3. Paul Goldschmidt 1B

4. Jake Lamb 3B

5. Brandon Drury 2B

6. Chris Herrmann LF

7. Nick Ahmed SS

8. Jeff Mathis C

9. Zack Greinke P

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Wednesday’s game

Diamondbacks at Padres

When: 7:10 p.m.

Where: Petco Park, San Diego.

Pitchers: Diamondbacks RHP Zack Greinke (1-1, 4.32) vs. Padres RHP Jhoulys Chacin (1-2, 7.80).

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

Game notes

Three starts into his season, Greinke has logged one decent start, one very good one and that was not so good. He’s coming off the latter, an outing in which he gave up five runs in five innings at Dodger Stadium last week, taking the loss in a matchup against LHP Clayton Kershaw. … Greinke posted a 3.42 ERA against the Padres last season, including a 2.66 ERA in three starts at Petco Park. … Chacin’s season has also been a mixed bag. He gave up nine runs in 3 1/3 innings on Opening Day, followed that up with 6 2/3 scoreless innings then allowed four runs in five innings in his third start. … Chacin pitched briefly for the Diamondbacks in 2015, making five appearances (four starts) and logging a 3.38 ERA. … Lefties are hitting .344 off him this season, compared to .276 for right-handed hitters.

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Coming up

Thursday: At San Diego, 6:10 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Patrick Corbin (1-2, 2.81) vs. Padres LHP Clayton Richard (1-2, 3.60).

Friday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Taijuan Walker (2-1, 3.94) vs. Dodgers LHP Alex Wood (1-0, 1.00).

Saturday: At Chase Field, 5:10 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Robbie Ray (1-0, 1.96) vs. Dodgers RHP Kenta Maeda (1-1, 7.07).

MLB POWER RANKINGS: Diamondbacks hit road, road hits back