Diamondbacks' Torey Lovullo Explains Bizarre Play

The Arizona Diamondbacks thought they had worked their way out of a rocky seventh inning on Wednesday, after executing what appeared to be an extremely heads-up double play.

Right-hander Ryan Thompson, with Ezequiel Duran at first base and one out, got a ground ball to third base. Duran went early, forcing Blaze Alexander to throw to first base instead of second.

Duran then curiously broke for third base. A good throw from Tyler Locklear and a heads-up play by Gabriel Moreno to cover third appeared to nail Duran as he tried to slide into third.

But Duran stayed put, as the umpire crew ruled obstruction on shortstop Geraldo Perdomo, who had stepped into the lane between second and third. That set the D-backs up with a runner at third and two outs, rather than ending the inning scoreless.

Manager Torey Lovullo addressed the strange play in his postgame press conference.

Arizona Diamondbacks' Torey Lovullo Addresses Obstruction Play

"Perdomo was just running into the lane to get a better feel for where he could address what was going to be taking place on the play, and he just got in the way," Lovullo said.

"The runner initiated contact... If it's a block that the umpire considers a hindrance for the runner to get to the next base, and it's a full-out sprint to the base, and it's a bang-bang play, he has a chance to call obstruction."

Lovullo said the umpires made the right call, as disappointing as the result may have been. He also said it felt a "little bit" as if Duran broke for third, knowing he would be the beneficiary of an obstruction call.

"I watched it on a high overhead for three seconds,so I haven't had a chance to look at it, but on that play, it's very tricky. If he's thrown out by 12 to 15, 18 feet, he's not protected.

"If it's considered a bang-bang play in the way it was, he is protected. So it's a little bit of a risk because if that ball is retrieved a little bit quicker or thrown a little bit quicker and he's out... he's going to be declared out. But because it was so close, they had to protect him," Lovullo said.

Ultimately, the play did not result in a run scoring, as right-hander John Curtiss collected the final out. Arizona would go on to win 2-0.

The play went down as Perdomo's second error of the game — a rare statline for the usually sure-handed shortstop. Still, Arizona's defense has been playing much better of late, and Lovullo knows it.

"Our April defense sunk," Lovullo said. "It migrated into May. ... I don't like that. I like clean, fast baseball, and it put us behind in a lot of different situations. We save outs when we play that type of defense."

"[Perdomo]'s been unbelievable. He's been outstanding. It's everybody covering ground, using footwork. ... Those are things that are just god-given, and these guys have a nose for the baseball," Lovullo said.

Arizona Diamondbacks Latest News