Imagine you’re Torey Lovullo, manager of the Diamondbacks, and you’re about to walk up to one of your players after a big win and tell him he isn’t going to be in the starting lineup the next day. Now imagine the player is left fielder David Peralta, who had just tied a franchise record with five hits during your team’s record-setting 20-5 rout of the Padres.
Lovullo did exactly that on Saturday night and the following morning, he acknowledged it probably sounded like a bonehead move as he relayed the conversation to reporters.
“It was a hard decision for me last night when I talked to him,” Lovullo said Sunday.