Diamondbacks React to 'Massive' Win over Giants

After three straight losses, Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo called Wednesday's series finale with the San Francisco Giants a "massive" game.

With Arizona's playoff hopes diminishing with each passing day, a sweep at the hands of the Giants could have been disastrous.

Not that a postseason berth is likely at this stage of the season, but being swept by a rival while going on a four-game losing streak certainly would have been extremely damaging.

But the Diamondbacks held on by a score of 5-3 to take the finale. They now sit one game under .500 at 73-74, facing a three-game series with the struggling Twins.

After Wednesday's win, Lovullo spoke with D-backs.TV's Todd Walsh about the substantial effort by his starting pitcher, defense and lineup.

Diamondbacks' Torey Lovullo, Geraldo Perdomo Reacts to Huge Win

Lovullo doubled down on his previous comments.

"It was a massive win, and I think good teams are capable of winning games when they really have to. There's never a guarantee in this game, but we played well enough, hard enough, and it was a huge win.

"It was the first batter of the game, fighting off some two-seam fastballs, finally gets one that's elevated, and [Geraldo] Perdomo hits a leadoff home run. I think that gave us a collective exhale," Lovullo said.

From there, Arizona never relinquished the lead, as starter Eduardo Rodriguez turned in his third straight Quality Start, pitching 6.1 scoreless innings.

"That's when [Rodriguez] took over," Lovullo said. "[He] was pounding the zone. ... Didn't want to come out of the game, but I felt like it was the right time with the right guys to come in and help us out.

"At a certain point in the game, I think it was about the fourth inning, I saw a good carry on his fastball, and it felt like he could throw it where he wanted, and he had some good secondary stuff as well. ... We needed it."

Perdomo echoed his manager's sentiment on the effort from Arizona's starting pitcher.

"[Rodriguez] had a lot of control, I'm glad he [was] really good, outstanding today," said the shortstop.

"It was a huge team win right there," Perdomo said. "We played great defense today, clean defense. Offense was amazing. It was a huge."

The D-backs may still be some significant distance from an improbable Wild Card berth, but they aren't quite dead yet. It will take many more effort's like Wednesday's if they hope to get there, but they've certainly shown they're capable of doing so when needed.

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