With Deadline approaching, Lovullo still 'fighting for this group every single day'

PHOENIX -- Former Diamondback Christian Walker hit a go-ahead RBI single in the ninth inning to hand Arizona a 4-3 loss to the Astros on Wednesday afternoon, completing a three-game sweep at Chase Field. It’s a disappointing end to a second-half-opening homestand that began with such promise, with Arizona sweeping St. Louis before dropping three straight to Houston.

But Wednesday also represented another important landmark in the D-backs’ season: their final home game before the July 31 Trade Deadline.

“It’s kind of weird. I might say goodbye to some players on the road and I’ll never see them in this clubhouse again,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “It initially grabs you and postures you a little bit, but we’ve been hardened by this game, and we know that it’s a possibility and we’ll figure a way out of it and we’ll be fine no matter what happens.”

If the front office decides to sell, the D-backs have quite a few veterans who will be attractive to teams looking for a boost down the stretch. Starting pitchers Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly have excellent track records and are on expiring contracts, as is first baseman Josh Naylor. But the majority of the Trade Deadline chatter in Arizona has surrounded third baseman Eugenio Suárez and his 36 home runs.

“It seems like Geno is the one guy that is the target and part of every conversation that I’ve been having whenever somebody talks about this looming Trade Deadline,” Lovullo said. “He’s endeared himself to everybody in the baseball community. He’s a great player and a great human being.”

The D-backs are 50-53, in fourth place in the National League West and 5 1/2 games behind the Padres for the third Wild Card spot, with three teams in between. They aren’t out of it by any means, but they’re certainly far behind where they envisioned themselves when the season began.

Lovullo also didn’t envision the sheer volume of injuries the club has had to contend with.

Since Opening Day, the D-backs have lost starting pitchers Corbin Burnes and Jordan Montgomery, swingman Tommy Henry and co-closers A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez to Tommy John surgery. And the bullpen has been further depleted with injuries to Ryan Thompson, Shelby Miller and Jalen Beeks.

When you factor that in, it’s amazing the D-backs still remain in the playoff picture. Lovullo said that speaks to the makeup of this team.

“To live the way we’ve been living through it has said to me that this group is connected, they care and they want to be able to do something at the end of this year that they’ve seen before,” Lovullo said. “They’re hungry. They are resilient, they make adjustments on the fly and they know that if we can just get through this tough period of time, that there is something really special that is potentially waiting for us.”

Despite all the injury woes, the D-backs are staying afloat, and they’ve got 59 games left to make a final push.

“I just want to stay in the fight, and I think we are,” Lovullo said. “We’re [three] games under .500 and that’s not acceptable to me. We’ve got to be better, and we will be. But we’re banged up, we’re hurt. And you can see some of the challenges that we have every night [that] I think we’re doing our best to overcome.

“Just stay in the fight. We’ve got some real quality arms that are working hard [to return from injury] … some big players, some main players. And once they come back, who knows what can happen. We’ve been in this position before, and I think we’ll be OK at the end of the day. We’re going to be fine as long as we play the best that we can every single day.”

Lovullo would like to see the front office add rather than subtract. After all, this is essentially the same club that both went to the World Series in 2023 and won 89 games last season. He said he’s making that argument to the club brass as often as he can.

“I say that a lot. I’m fighting for this group every single day,” he said. “We’re right in it. And if we have 14 good days of baseball, we are in it even deeper. …

“Don’t sell us short. Don’t think that we can’t do this. We’re very capable. We need some pieces, you know what they are. If you go get ‘em, something magical might happen here.”