Torey Lovullo Gave Strong Message After Massive Diamondbacks Win

On Saturday night, in a game the Arizona Diamondbacks could ill afford to lose, they somehow found a way. After the D-backs' bullpen (perhaps predictably) blew a 2-0 lead in the eighth inning, the game went to extras.

Despite a sluggish offensive performance early, Gabriel Moreno and Blaze Alexander came through with a pair of two-out hits and three runs, allowing John Curtiss the necessary breathing room to close the game.

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Following the win, manager Torey Lovullo spoke to D-backs.TV's Todd Walsh about his team's gritty performance.

Arizona Diamondbacks' Torey Lovullo Reacts to Win over Twins

"These guys just keep fighting, and that's all I ask, is they go out there and give their best effort every single day, and we won a big game. Whatever's going on around us, I'm not so concerned about that," Lovullo said.

"Of course, we watch it from afar, but we've got to take care of our own business. And when we do things like we did in that 10th inning... we're doing a lot right. We're engaged, and we're thinking baseball."

Lovullo praised the resilience of his team, and their ability to execute with their backs up against the wall. It may not always result in a win, but it did on Saturday.

"Like I've said in previous interviews, there's no panic in this team. We've been down this road before. We know we've got to just relax and execute. We got some really big outs with some traffic out there, and we held firm at a tie.

"That was the energy that we drew from after we got back in the dugout, after that big inning where we got out of it at 2-2. There's so many ways you can slice this up. We refocused and reloaded at the right time," Lovullo said.

Saturday's win was also fueled by the excellent effort by right-hander Ryne Nelson. Nelson pitched six scoreless innings to give the D-backs a chance.

He worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the second inning and stranded two leadoff walks in the sixth to hang zeroes across the board.

Lovullo said that, after Friday night's brutal meltdown of a loss, Nelson's outing helped allow the team to stabilize and find a way to win on Saturday.

"Last night, I don't care what anybody says, we kind of staggered through the night, through the evening, and into the morning today. When you have a starting pitcher that lets you get your foot in the way [Nelson] did, we're in a really good spot to win a baseball game... overall, he was fantastic," Lovullo said.

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