PHOENIX — In a shootout 10-9 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday, the Arizona Diamondbacks had to make some tough decisions with the bullpen. Ryan Thompson was unavailable and manager Torey Lovullo wanted to stay away from Justin Martinez, as the duo had pitched in each of the previous two games.

Lovullo had some maneuvering to do, and his pitchers did not get the job done.

Starter Zac Gallen did not have great feel for his pitches early, although he gutted out five innings and left with the two sides tied 5-5.

The biggest moment for the bullpen came in the seventh inning when Paul Sewald entered down 6-5 with two runners on and one out.

Two batters into Sewald’s outing, Dodgers catcher Will Smith broke the game open with a three-run homer. Sewald missed his spot with a fastball in after Smith looked pretty hopeless on back-to-back sweepers. Lovullo thought the pitch should have been down-and-away to freeze Smith.

HR No. 17 for Will Smith is an insurance BLAST 💥 pic.twitter.com/ljT3REZHRn

— MLB (@MLB) August 31, 2024

Why Sewald? Kevin Ginkel, who has not allowed an earned run in his last 11 games, had previously warmed up, but Lovullo wanted to save him and A.J. Puk for a situation in which the D-backs were ahead. Jordan Montgomery was also not available.

“I can’t run away from everybody, and I want to give Paul a chance to get some rhythm and go in there and and find his way,” Lovullo said.

“It’s getting better. Believe it or not, I know it’s hard for me to sit here and convince you guys of that based on what his line score look like, but it’s getting better. I think we’re an arm fake away from executing an out at third base and being out of that inning.”

Sewald then allowed a second home run, this time a solo shot by Shohei Ohtani in the eighth inning on an 0-2 fastball right down the middle.

Ohtani’s homer became the difference in the game, as an Eugenio Suarez two-run shot cut the deficit to one run in the ninth inning.

The D-backs have not named Martinez the closer despite the 23-year-old filling that role over the past three weeks. Lovullo continues to leave the door open for Sewald to retain that status, but Sewald has allowed runs in three straight games and Friday’s performance proved costly.

“The thing I like about him is he’s landing the slider and I know last year it was kind of reverse. It was a lot of four-seam fastballs, and he couldn’t find the slider,” Lovullo said. “He’s got to find that fastball location.”

The Dodgers took a 6-5 lead in the sixth inning on a Joe Mantiply wild pitch, scoring a run charged to Dylan Floro. Mantiply was charged with two runs on Smith’s homer.

Diamondbacks’ first-and-third play

Lovullo highlighted a first-and-third play just before Smith’s home run that he felt made a significant difference in the game.

With runners on the corners, Los Angeles’ Teoscar Hernandez stole second. Instead of throwing down, catcher Jose Herrera pump faked to second and ran toward third. Mookie Betts was caught well off the bag, but Herrera had to wait a beat for Suarez to cover before throwing the ball. Betts just beat the throw to keep Smith’s at-bat alive.

“I thought we got him, but I played deep. I played almost in the grass. That’s why I didn’t make it to third,” Suarez said. “I thought if I played short there, we got him because that was a good play. … As a runner, when you see the third baseman play that deep, you got a chance to break off hard like he did and you’ve got a chance to be back. That’s what happened on that play.”

Lovullo admitted he had not yet reviewed the play, but he was frustrated by the failure to record the out. He said they practice it in spring training a lot, and he would take a closer look at the execution.

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In this episode of Arizona Highways TV with Robin Sewell, explore the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, a unique blend of a zoo, aquarium, botanical garden, natural history museum, and art institute. Learn about its immersive exhibits, including the hummingbird aviary and the 147-species cactus garden. Meet the animal ambassadors like Knight, a barn owl, and discover the role of education and conservation at the museum. Later, visit Ingo’s Tasty Food in central Phoenix for a gourmet alfresco dining experience, and explore George Aberbeck’s handcrafted glass art in Flagstaff. Finally, stay at the historic Armory Park Inn in Tucson, filled with stories of iconic Arizonans. The episode also touches on the music scene in the valley, including the Zubia Brothers and their journey from mariachi roots to the local music landscape.

When the 2023 Arizona football campaign began last year Jayden de Laura was entering his second season as the starting quarterback, while Noah Fifita was the backup. Fast forward to the Stanford game, de Laura goes down with an injury and Fifita stepped up in his absence. Not only did he step up, Fifita took full reins of the team.

After close losses to Washington and USC, he would lead the Wildcats to seven straight wins, including an Alamo Bowl victory against Oklahoma. Once the offseason hit, Fifita was faced with a similar challenge of bringing his team together after Jedd Fisch left for Washington.

Following Arizona’s hiring of Brent Brennan as head coach, it only took one meeting with him for Fifita to decide to stay. Thereafter, Fifita has only gained momentum as being one of the top quarterbacks in the nation as well as the leader of the Wildcats.

With being named to many preseason awards watch lists, Fifita was ranked 51st by ESPN on its list of top 100 college players. On top of earning rankings and being named to watchlists, he has become popular in the NIL world. Picking up sponsorships with Alerion Aviation, the Tucson International Airport and SuperCuts, it is clear that there is extreme hype around Fifita.

Preseason training camp was one of hard work and fine tuning the little things, which is what got Fifita to be ready when called upon as the backup. Now, he will be leading the team as one of six team captains.

Alongside fellow captains Jonah Savaiinaea, Josh Baker, Jacob Manu, Treydan Stukes, and Gunner Maldonado, Fifita’s leadership is noticed by everyone on the team. Offensive coordinator Dino Babers made it clear that a player such as he is rare to find nowadays.

“He’s not average, the more and more you’re around him you’re just like ‘the guy is special,’ and he needs to be treated as such,” Babers said.

Quarterbacks coach Lyle Moevao gave credit to Fifita for adjusting to new pieces on the offense and the offensive scheme.

“You know the fun thing about Noah is that his mind is always on ‘what’s our plan?’,” Moevao said. “That’s the beauty of working with Noah, he’s always gonna be, you know, one step ahead.”

Being one step ahead goes back to his preparation from last season as a backup, but now going into this season Fifita has to make sure that the entire team is ready to go.

“I think last year it was kind of more about myself and really taking care of what I had to take care of,” he said. “Now this year it is about the team, and kind of having cohesion through all the positions and not just worrying about my responsibilities.”

The nation knows about the Fifita to Tetairoa McMillan connection, but one that is equally important is the center to quarterback connection. Baker’s face lit up earlier this week when asked about his relationship with Fifita.

“It’s been amazing to see a young kid a couple years ago come in with such a professional attitude and such a professional mindset,” Baker said. “Working hard every single day, not missing a beat, able to step up when his name was called, it’s just been amazing to see that.”

Outside of all of the watchlists, rankings, and sponsorships, Fifita knows that in order to be successful, he has to bring the team together as one.

“It’s always about the team,” Fifita said. “That’s the main part and that’s just Coach Brennan, he has referenced that a lot. Coach (Dick) Tomey’s thing is ‘The team, the team, the team.’ so that’s just kind of how we’re built, that’s what we take pride in and if we want to do what we want to do, it’s about the team. About us, not just one individual.”