Diamondbacks' Manager Explains Controversial Extra-Inning Decision

In the 10th inning of a draining Arizona Diamondbacks loss to the San Diego Padres on Tuesday, manager Torey Lovullo was faced with a situational decision.

With the score tied at five and the speedy Corbin Carroll at second base, the Padres intentionally walked Ketel Marte, setting up runners at first and second. Any base hit was likely to win the game.

With no outs, an obvious option was there. With Geraldo Perdomo (one of Arizona's best bunters) up to bat, why not call for a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners?

Lovullo chose to let Perdomo swing away, much to the dismay of many fans on social media.

Perdomo flied out to shallow right field, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (who hit a historic game-tying homer in the eighth inning), grounded into a double play to end the inning. The D-backs would go on to lose 10-5 after a rough 11th.

Related Content: D-backs' Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Makes MLB History with Impressive Homer

Lovullo was clearly aware of the potential response to his decision. He explained his process in-depth on Friday, speaking to Arizona Sports 98.7's Burns & Gambo.

Arizona Diamondbacks Manager Torey Lovullo Explains Controversial Decision

"I felt like it would have taken the bat out of [Perdomo's] hands, which inevitably would have taken the bat out of Gurriel's hands, and he'd already hit two home runs. I felt like those two guys were our best hitters," Lovullo said.

"I know that there's a group that says, 'Yeah, you've got to do it this way. And I'm sure if I bunted Perdomo, and they walked Gurriel, and Locklear popped up, I'd have the other half of the decision makers... saying that I should have done it that way. That's the space that I live in.

"I did it with conviction at the time. I added everything up."

That type of criticism is unavoidable, especially when the players fail to execute and the game goes in a southern direction. Lovullo does not hide from that.

The manager said he spoke at length with Perdomo before giving him the green light to swing away.

"I had a conversation with Gerry at the time, and he wanted to hit. He wanted to go out and win the baseball game. And I felt like that's one of our best hitters. When he's got that kind of a target, and he's got that kind of a convicted answer, I tend to get out of their way," Lovullo said.

"There are times where I'll jump in, but I felt like he was going to put a good swing on the ball, and we were going to win that game. ... That was a gut thing right there."

Lovullo said Perdomo was confident he would be able to execute and send Arizona home victorious.

"I got out of the dugout to talk to him somewhere in front of the dugout near the on-deck circle... He said, 'I want to win this game. I want to end the game right now.' And I said, 'That's what I want to do too. Go out and put a good swing on this guy... They're going to be talking about you on SportsCenter tonight."

"The analytics would say to bunt them over... put it in the hands of the next batter, which in this case would have been Locklear, but clearly we wouldn't know what that result would be because it didn't happen," Lovullo said.

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