Theo Mackie,Nick PiecoroArizona Republic
The Diamondbacks played an uninspiring game against an awful baseball team and lost on Saturday night. They got mad about the strike zone. Their manager got ejected. Every pitcher who took the mound for them gave up at least one run. It was not a night to remember.
But their 9-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox was notable for one bizarre sequence in the top of the third inning when the Diamondbacks called for an intentional balk — yes, balk, with a “b” — in order to advance a baserunner from second to third.
Here was the situation: With two out, the White Sox had veteran Martin Maldonado on second and Andrew Vaughn at the plate. Diamondbacks reliever Thyago Vieira was on the mound. The Diamondbacks bench noticed Maldonado relaying signs, informing his hitters of the pitch about to be thrown, and decided to put a stop to it.
"Kevin Newman came down and said, 'Heads up, he’s six for six,'" DBacks' manager Torey Lovullo said.
So with Vaughn facing a 2-1 count, Lovullo made an unusual mid at-bat mound visit and asked Vieira if he was comfortable dropping the ball in order to commit a balk. Vieira said he was.
“We just felt like it was too risky," Lovullo said. “I definitely didn’t want to have the hitter knowing what was coming and possibly put up a crooked number.”
Lovullo said the Diamondbacks “work really hard” on keeping their pitchers from tipping, particularly during spring training, but since the club is still learning Vieira, who was picked up on waivers earlier this month, they were unsure what he was doing that Maldonado was seeing.
When the inning ended and video from the inning became available to watch on iPads in the dugout, the Diamondbacks figured out what was happening.
“I’ll tell you exactly what he (Vieira) did,” Lovullo said. “He was taking the ball from his side and you could see him rolling it before he put it in his hand if it was a breaking ball. If he didn’t roll it and packed it into his glove, it was going to be a fastball. Easy as that.”
The move didn’t exactly work out — Vaughn shot an RBI single to center on the very next pitch — but it could be argued that he could have done more damage had he known what was coming. Then again, Maldonado, who is one of the slowest runners in the majors, likely would not have scored from second on a single.
“Personally, I think it kind of helped us,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “I don’t know if Maldy scores on that ball to center.”
Lovullo said multiple times that what Maldonado was doing was not considered cheating.
“Look, we do it, too,” Lovullo said. “Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”
The sequence was mostly just an interesting footnote in a one-sided loss for the Diamondbacks — a bad one, at that, given that it came against a club that entered the day with just 18 wins on the season.
The Diamondbacks’ attempt to piece together a bullpen game ahead of bulk pitcher Tommy Henry did not go well. The White Sox, owners of baseball’s worst offense, slammed four homers on the night, the dagger coming in the form of Lenyn Sosa’s three-run shot off Henry that turned a two-run hole into a 7-2 deficit in the seventh.
Lovullo was ejected an inning later, getting run by home plate umpire Nick Mahrley a few minutes after a borderline ball/strike call went against Diamondbacks slugger Joc Pederson.
“I think there was a lot of missed calls,” Lovullo said. “It was very bothersome. Sometimes you’ve got to go out there and let them know it’s not satisfactory.”
Had the Diamondbacks been able to sweep this series, they would have departed for their road trip to the east coast with a .500 record. Instead, they fell to 34-37.
In Sunday afternoon’s finale, they will look to avoid the embarrassment of becoming just the fifth team to drop a series to the White Sox this season.
—Nick Piecoro
Timelines coming into focus for Alek Thomas, Merrill Kelly
Manager Torey Lovullo shined light on when a pair of injured players could return to action for the Diamondbacks.
Center fielder Alek Thomas, who played in his second rehab game in the rookie-level Arizona Complex League on Saturday, is pointing toward a return sometime during the next homestand, Lovullo said.
Thomas will play another game in the complex league on Monday before joining Triple-A Reno on Wednesday. He likely will remain with Reno through the weekend, Lovullo said. The Diamondbacks' next homestand begins on June 25 vs. Minnesota.
As for right-hander Merrill Kelly, Lovullo acknowledged that his No. 2 starter likely will not be back before the middle of July.
“It might be a little bit after the All-Star break,” Lovullo said. “We’re just being very cautious with Merrill. He knows his body well. He gives great input.”
Lovullo added: “We’re just going to be extremely cautious. If we have to wait a little extra time on the front side to get him back for the remaining (two months) of baseball, we’ll sign up for that.”
—Nick Piecoro
Sunday’s Diamondbacks-White Sox pitching matchup
White Sox at Diamondbacks, 1:10 p.m., Cox, Ch. 34
Diamondbacks LHP Jordan Montgomery (4-4, 6.58) vs. White Sox RHP Drew Thorpe (0-0, 1.80).
At Chase Field: Montgomery had struggled in his previous two outings before turning in a more competitive outing against the Angels, giving up three runs in 5 2/3 innings. … Though Montgomery’s numbers are not good, he has been a decent bet to keep the Diamondbacks in games, holding opposing teams to three runs or less in six of his 10 starts. … Montgomery owns a 2.20 ERA in 28 2/3 innings in his career against the White Sox. C Martin Maldonado is 3 for 4 with two homers in his career against Montgomery. … Thorpe was traded twice in the past year, first from the Yankees to the Padres in the OF Juan Soto deal, then from the Padres to the White Sox in the RHP Dylan Cease trade. … This will be Thorpe’s second career start. He made his major league debut on Tuesday against in Seattle, holding the Mariners to two runs (one earned) in five innings, walking two and striking out four. … Thorpe’s best pitch is said to be his change-up. He induced seven whiffs on 19 swings in his debut, a strong 36.8 percent rate.
Coming up
Monday: Off.
Tuesday: At Washington, 3:45 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Slade Cecconi (1-5, 6.70) vs. Nationals RHP Jake Irvin (5-5, 3.00).
Wednesday: At Washington, 1:05 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Brandon Pfaadt (3-5, 4.38) vs. Nationals LHP Patrick Corbin (1-7, 5.84).
Thursday: At Washington, 10:05 a.m., Diamondbacks RHP Ryne Nelson (4-5, 5.49) vs. Nationals LHP MacKenzie Gore (6-5, 3.24).
