D-backs, Torey Lovullo face everyday challenges with coronavirus

The message from Torey Lovullo in two availabilities with the media on Tuesday was that his life probably looks like everyone else’s right now as coronavirus limits people’s activities.

“I just got done watching Major League 2 with my son, who just got his tonsils out today,” Lovullo said on a conference call with reporters. “And it’s just sitting around doing nothing. My wife and I were playing cards. Just doing the things that probably every family is doing inside of their home right now in the Phoenix area.

“Watching what’s happening in the news, checking our phones, I’ve gone from level 45 [on a game on my phone] to like level 295. So I’m sitting around doing nothing just like everybody else.”

It so happens that Lovullo has been away from the Diamondbacks’ facility, despite it still being open on an optional basis and staffed with a limited number of coaches and support staff. He’s been sick, but don’t worry — Lovullo told Burns & Gambo on Arizona Sports that it was allergies gone awry.

So as many people are staying home or wondering how they’re going to find some more toilet paper, Lovullo and his family has dealt with the same issues.

“Of course. This situation doesn’t pick and choose the people that are going to get the food,” Lovullo said. “I’m just like everybody else. My wife went to the store at 6 o’clock yesterday morning to get as many items as she possibly could and there’s limitations for us, too. We’re affected by this.”

Meanwhile, at the facility, some players are absent because they’ve returned to their home cities. Others are still in the area and continue showing up for treatment and workouts, but are doing so in shifts of four or five players at a time. The front office has been mapping this out the night before to ensure the smallest number of people in the facility at a time.

“It’s still something that we are all getting used to. But my family is exactly the same as everybody else in this situation. It’s a pandemic in this world,” Lovullo said. “We’re staying close to home. We’re not going out to do anything extra. We’re spending time with family inside of our homes. We’re spending time with our friends inside of our community. We’ve done our grocery-shopping. We’re hunkered down. We’re going to do what we’re supposed to do.”

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