Late decisions backfire on Torey Lovullo in Arizona Diamondbacks’ loss

For the second time in three days, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo was in the uncomfortable position of having to defend his late-inning decisions in an Arizona loss.

After Saturday’s 8-7 loss to the Padres, he had to answer questions about the use of his bullpen when San Diego scored six runs in the ninth inning.

Monday, in the Diamondbacks’ 5-4 loss to the Rockies, the questions were even more pointed, and they centered around Lovullo’s use of his pitchers in the decisive eighth inning.

It all started when Lovullo decided to pinch-hit for starter Zack Greinke in the bottom of the seventh inning, even though Greinke was only at 92 pitches and the Diamondbacks weren’t in ideal scoring position, with a runner on first and two outs.

“He was probably going to go out for one more inning,” Lovullo said. “I didn’t want to stretch him out any further than that. I just felt like the risk versus the reward … it was good to send up (pinch-hitter Christian) Walker to see if he could cash it in with a big hit.”

Greinke said he understood Lovullo’s decision.

“It was kind of a tough spot having to face the top of the order for the fourth time at the end of my outing,” he said.

After Walker struck out, Arizona quickly got two outs in the top of the eighth, J.J. Hoover striking out pinch-hitter Raimel Tapia and lefty Andrew Chafin striking out Charlie Blackmon. Lovullo then wanted a righty-righty matchup so he brought in Jake Barrett to face DJ LeMahieu. That strategy was foiled, however, when LeMahieu tripled.

Left-handed-hitting Carlos Gonzalez was up next but instead of going to lefty T.J. McFarland in the bullpen, Lovullo stayed with Barrett and he walked Gonzalez on four pitches.

Asked why he didn’t bring McFarland in to pitch to Gonzalez, who’s hitting .254, Lovullo said, “There are two ways to look at it. Going to go after Cargo left on left but I was just trying to choose the lesser of two evils.”

The lesser evil, in Lovullo’s mind: Having Barrett face Arenado, who already had doubled and came into the game as an MVP candidate, hitting .310 with 32 homers and 119 RBIs.

The reason: Arenado was 0 for 4 lifetime against Barrett.

“If the game was on the line I felt like I wanted Arenado against Jake Barrett,” Lovullo said.

Did he consider walking Arenado and bringing in McFarland to pitch to the left-handed-hitting Gerardo Parra?

“No I did not,” he said. “I liked that (Barrett-Arenado) matchup well enough. I felt like it lined up well enough for Jake.”

Barrett wasn’t surprised he was left in to face Arenado.

“I knew I was going to finish that inning for sure,” he said. “Power guy throwing against power guy. That’s my job.”

But Barrett said he hung a slider to Arenado, who crushed it for a three-run homer to give the Rockies a 5-2 lead.

The kicker: Archie Bradley, who was warming up in the bottom of the seventh, never threw a pitch in the eighth inning.

“Archie was available,” Lovullo said. “He had thrown a couple of days in a row but I felt very strongly that he was going to come in this game only if we were ahead.”

The Diamondbacks scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth to cut Colorado’s lead to 5-4 and had two men on with one out in the ninth, but Chris Iannetta flied out to the warning track in center field and A.J. Pollock grounded out to end the game.

With the win, Colorado closed to within four games of Arizona for the first wild-card berth and home-field advantage in the wild-card game.

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Tuesday’s game

Rockies at Diamondbacks

When: 6:40 p.m.

Where: Chase Field (Roof hotline: 602-462-6262).

Pitchers: Diamondbacks RHP Taijuan Walker (9-7, 3.33) vs. Rockies RHP Jon Gray (7-4, 4.07).

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

Walker has won his past three starts, allowing a combined two earned runs in 17 1/3 innings. … His ERA of 3.33 would be tied for eighth in the National League if he had pitched enough innings to qualify. … He shut out the Rockies over five innings on Sept. 1, striking out 10 to earn his eighth win of the season. … Gray is 3-2 with a 2.43 ERA over his past five starts. … He hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in a start since July 19.

Coming up

Wednesday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Patrick Corbin (13-12, 4.16) vs. Rockies RHP German Marquez (10-6, 4.27).

Thursday: At Chase Field, 12:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zack Godley (7-7, 3.18) vs. Rockies RHP Chad Bettis (1-2, 4.98).

Friday: At AT&T Park, 7:15 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Robbie Ray (13-5, 2.81) vs. Giants (TBD).