Diamondbacks-Phillies NLCS updates: DBacks adjust lineup for Game 3
The Arizona Diamondbacks are in the National League Championship Series for the third time in franchise history, playing the Philadelphia Phillies in the best-of-seven set for a trip to the World Series. Game 3 is Thursday at 2:07 at Chase Field and will be shown on TBS.
Torey Lovullo blown away to be a guest on Coach K’s podcast
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo sounded legitimately starstruck on Thursday morning as he recounted how he ended up a podcast guest of legendary Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski.
“I got a text that Coach K wants to have you on his podcast, and I'm like, ‘Is this a joke?’” Lovullo said “‘Did you send this text to the right person? This is Torey Lovullo.’ They were like, ‘Yeah.’ I'm like, ‘No way.’”
Lovullo said he has been a fan of Krzyzewski’s for 20-plus years.
“I told him part of his DNA is in our clubhouse,” Lovullo said. “One of his core beliefs — and I remember reading in his book, and that was the only connection I had to him was to reading stuff that he wrote or he said — was that I could put a player in a box and let him grow as big as that box. If I open up the lid to that box, he can become the most amazing player ever. Those are things I talk about in (our clubhouse) culture.”
Lovullo made it sound like he had trouble focusing at times during the interview because he was so blown away that it was even happening.
“For me to sit down and have him call me by my first name — I wish I could have told him what I was thinking at the time,” he said. “I was trying to listen to the question that he was asking me, and I barely was able to because I thought to myself 15 times, ‘I cannot believe that I'm talking to Coach K right now. This just is not happening.’
“It meant a lot to me. It meant a lot to me that he was interested in what’s happening inside of our world, inside of our culture, and he wants to know some of the strategies and some of the mindsets that I have. That blows me away. I’ll never get used to that.
“I’m just a dope from Los Angeles, California, and I don’t feel like I deserve to be sitting in the same space as him, but I guess at the end of the day, I do, and that’s an honor.”
Diamondbacks make major changes to lineup
For the first time this postseason, manager Torey Lovullo has made notable changes to the Diamondbacks’ lineup.
Tommy Pham, who served as Arizona’s designated hitter in their first seven playoff games, is playing right field. Pham has not appeared in the outfield since Sept. 22 due to a turf toe issue. He has primarily played left field this season but has started nine games in right and five games in center.
Pham’s inclusion in the outfield bumps Corbin Carroll to center field, with Alek Thomas sitting against Phillies’ left-hander Ranger Suárez. In the regular season, Thomas hit .143/.175/.260 against lefties.
With Pham out of the designated hitter spot, Lovullo is using Evan Longoria there, getting the 38-year-old veteran off his feet for a game. Emmanuel Rivera is at third base in Longoria’s place. Rivera grounded out in his only at-bat of the postseason thus far.
The other notable change to Arizona’s lineup comes with Gabriel Moreno hitting third, up from fifth. Pham has been the Diamondbacks’ third hitter in every postseason game but he has a .591 OPS in the playoffs, while Moreno has a .889 OPS with three home runs.
“We have to do it right now,” Lovullo said. “It's got to happen, players' feelings aside. … So I just had to do what I thought was going to help us be the best version of ourselves to score some runs and win a baseball game.”
The lineup is as follows:
Ketel Marte, 2B
Corbin Carroll, CF
Gabriel Moreno, C
Christian Walker, 1B
Tommy Pham, RF
Lourdes Gurriel Jr., LF
Evan Longoria, DH
Emmanuel Rivera, 3B
Geraldo Perdomo, SS
—Theo Mackie
Diamondbacks-Phillies Game 3 pitching matchup
Phillies LHP Ranger Suarez (1-0, 1.04) vs. Diamondbacks RHP Brandon Pfaadt (0-0, 3.86)
Pfaadt gave the Diamondbacks a shot in the arm last week in the NLDS-clinching win over the Dodgers, allowing just 2 hits and no walks over 4 1/3 innings. ... He kept Los Angeles hitters off balance with his changeup, using it 26% of the time, a career-high. ... Before that, the rookie right-hander labored through his Game 1 wild-card start and was given a quick hook after just 2 2/3 innings; six relievers combined to cover the final 6 1/3 innings in Arizona's win. ... Pfaadt had an up-and-down 2023 season, literally, starting the year with the Triple-A Reno and being sent back down there twice, finally sticking for good in late July. ... He did not face the Phillies this season. ... Suarez made two starts against Atlanta in the NLDS, allowing one earned run and four hits over a combined 8 2/3 innings as the Phillies won both games. ... The Diamondbacks got Suarez for five runs and five hits in a five-inning stint in Philadelphia on May 24, but less than a month later at Chase Field, he was lights-out, allowing no runs and 4 hits with 7 strikeouts in 7 innings.
NLCS schedule, results
All games on TBS
Game 1:Phillies 5, Diamondbacks 3
Game 2: Phillies 10, Diamondbacks 0
Game 3: Oct. 19, Philadelphia at Arizona, 2:07 p.m.
Game 4: Oct. 20, Philadelphia at Arizona, 5:07 p.m.
Game 5: Oct. 21, Philadelphia at Arizona, 5:07 p.m.*
Game 6: Oct. 23, Arizona at Philadelphia, 2:07 p.m.*
Game 7: Oct. 24, Arizona at Philadelphia, 5:07 p.m.*
*-if necessary; time of Game 6 could change if ALCS is completed.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Diamondbacks-Phillies NLCS updates: Game 3 pitching matchup
