Brandon Drury finds himself on Diamondbacks’ bench

When the Diamondbacks acquired outfielder J.D. Martinez from the Tigers on July 18, utilityman Daniel Descalso was thrust into a platoon situation with struggling second baseman Brandon Drury.

But since the team’s acquisition of infielder Adam Rosales from the Athletics at the July 31 trade deadline, Drury has been relegated to bench duty — and it doesn’t look like that will change anytime soon.

“His role has changed, there’s no doubt about it,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “Brandon knows what’s going on. It’s been outlined to him that his role is coming off the bench to help us win a game there, also with the idea of working to improve in a couple areas and winning back playing time.”

Drury, who was the Diamondbacks’ second baseman on Opening Day, has hit .272 this season but has been plagued by shortcomings in the field. Thursday marked the fifth straight game the right-handed hitter was absent from the starting lineup.

“It’s been quite some time since he has started a game, and I’m well aware of that,” Lovullo said. “I just feel like we switched roles for a reason. We feel very comfortable playing Daniel Descalso and Adam Rosales at second base.”

Lovullo doesn’t want to start ranking his defenders, but he sees a clear difference when certain players are on the field. For now, with games this magnified, he is electing to go with defense-first.

“There’s certain players showing a niche to certain plays, and I don’t think that’s any mystery. We’re all watching the same game,” Lovullo said. “On that, I feel very comfortable with Ketel Marte as our shortstop and the couple of second basemen playing right now.

“That’s just the nature of the beast, especially when you’re rolling in these months of the season,” he said. “We have to win every inning we possibly can.”

Ray could have sim game Saturday

After a 33-pitch bullpen session at Chase Field on Wednesday, Robbie Ray continued to exhibit positive signs of recovery, as the left-hander played catch and took batting practice on Thursday.

According to Lovullo, if Ray continues this trend of progression, he could throw a simulated game as early as Saturday.

“The plan is to see how he feels Friday, and we anticipate him continuing to feel how he’s been feeling through this progression,” Lovullo said. “And if that’s the case, he’s going to throw a sim game on Saturday.”

Ray would likely need at least one rehab start before rejoining the big-league team, but Lovullo would not commit to anything beyond the potential sim game. The Diamondbacks are taking every precaution to make sure their All-Star pitcher returns when he’s good and ready.

“We miss Robbie. We know what he’s going to offer us, and we’re excited to get him back as soon as possible,” Lovullo said.  “But we have to be 100 percent certain that the time is right.”

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Owings points toward return

Chris Owings, on the 60-day disabled list with a fractured finger, said his rehabilitation is going well and that he should be ready to play when he’s eligible to be activated off the disabled list on Sept. 29.

“Just looking at it right now, everybody is impressed how the rehab is going and how the range of motion is going,” said Owings, who had two plates and two screws inserted into his finger and will get his stitches out on Friday.

The shortstop fractured his finger when he was hit with a pitch on a bunt attempt against St. Louis on July 30.

“You know when something is going on with your body,” he said. “I was kind of messing with it after it happened, and I could feel something wiggle in there.”

Owings said it was difficult not to join the Diamondbacks on their recent 10-game road trip.

“It’s cool when you’re here and you sit in the dugout and feel like you’re part of the team,” he said. “But I’ve been on the DL before, and the toughest part is when the team goes on the road and you don’t see guys for a week-and-a-half to two weeks and you feel like, ‘Am I even part of the team anymore?’

“The positive takeaway is that it’s not going to be career-ending or career-threatening.”

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D-Backs take pride in low payroll

The loss of a pitcher like Clayton Kershaw would derail the seasons of most teams — but not the Dodgers. With deep pockets and a deep prospect pool, they were able to acquire Thursday’s starter Yu Darvish at the trade deadline.

The Diamondbacks recognize that some teams have greater financial flexibility, but for Lovullo, there is pride in competing at a high level while paying on a lower scale.

“I know that we’re the only team that is falling under those guidelines,” Lovullo said. “There’s only certain teams that can go out there and have the payroll like the LA Dodgers. But we’re proud of the fact that we’re a ballclub that has a considerably less payroll and we go out and compete every single night.”

The Dodgers had a payroll of $242 million on Opening Day, the highest in MLB by more than $30 million. Conversely, the Diamondbacks opened the season ranked 26th out of 30 teams with a payroll just north of $93 million.

“We don’t know anything else. We take what we can get out there and perform each and every night,” Lovullo said. “At times we know we’re challenged by what the Dodgers can do with payroll flexibility, but that’s how the game is today. We know it, we understand it and we work through it.”

Short hops

• Nick Ahmed continued his strength-building exercises in his rehab from a broken wrist, taking ground balls and hitting soft toss on Thursday. Ahmed still feels as though he will be ready to play when eligible to come off the 60-day disabled list at the end of the month.
• Rey Fuentes played nine innings and went 2 for 4 at Triple-A Reno on Wednesday. The Aces have an off day Thursday, and the injured outfielder will travel with the team to Tacoma and is scheduled to play again Friday.
• Yasmany Tomas, healing from a groin injury, continued his baserunning progression and took part in some hitting drills on Thursday. Lovullo said he’s hopeful the Cuban slugger can return to game action soon.
• Randall Delgado underwent his second 90-foot throwing program on Thursday and all signs were positive. The Diamondbacks will wait and see how the right-hander responds to his latest session.