Gary Cohen has seen a lot of bad baseball this year, but nothing as bad as Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo’s ninth-inning decision Monday.
The Diamondbacks led 4-3 with two outs in the ninth inning, but the Mets had runners on the corners, with speedy pinch runner Tim LoCastro at first base.
While a sound baseball strategy is to not purposefully allow the tying and/or winning run into scoring position, that’s exactly what the Diamondbacks did.
Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker played behind Locastro, allowing him to easily steal second and put two runners in scoring position for Brandon Nimmo.
“They’re going to play behind him. He’s the winning run. What are they doing? What are they doing? They’re playing behind him. They’re giving him the stolen base. That’s the winning run. Are you kidding me?” Cohen said. “What are they thinking? How do you allow the winning run to steal second base? That is as bonehead a managerial decision as I’ve seen all year long. Unreal.”
As this all went on, Keith Hernandez said: “Oh, wow. Oh, my. Oh, my God. Oh, wow.”
Lovullo did not pay for his “bonehead” decision with ex-Mets reliever Paul Sewald retiring Nimmo on a fly ball to center field to secure the 4-3 win.
Perhaps Lovullo thought the pitcher-catcher combination of Sewald and Jose Herrera didn’t stand much of a chance of throwing out the speedy LoCastro, and he prioritized having his defense aligned the way he and his staff preferred with the dangerous Nimmo at the plate.
Still, that’s quite a bold strategy for a team fighting for its postseason life since every loss could be the difference between making or missing the postseason.
The Diamondbacks enter Wednesday’s game at Citi Field – the third in a four-game set – one game ahead of the Reds for the third NL wild-card spot, and 1 ½ games ahead of the Marlins and Giants.
How Arizona fares in the Big Apple could determine whether it makes the playoffs since it returns to New York on Friday, Sept. 22 for a three-game set at Yankee Stadium.