Torey Lovullo on D-backs’ injuries: ‘These are very turbulent waters’

It’s a season ravaged by injuries so far for the Arizona Diamondbacks and a season manager Torey Lovullo said he’s never experienced in his years as both a player and manager.

“It’s extremely frustrating,” Lovullo said via Zoom. “I have the same human emotion as everybody else and to be honest with you, I stepped away for a minute down behind the dugout after I got the news on Bum [Madison Bumgarner]. I had a moment to myself to express a little bit of my frustration.”

Bumgarner exited Monday’s 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers after four innings due to a left adductor spasm — a muscle on the inner thigh/groin area that’s responsible for moving the leg back toward the body’s midline.

Lovullo said Tuesday that the starting pitcher is feeling mild tightness following the outing, but added that Bumgarner is feeling good — surely welcome news to the manager and his staff.

With the D-backs rotation in flux, another young pitcher – Corbin Martin – is set to make his D-backs’ debut tonight with Zac Gallen (sprained right elbow), Taylor Widener (right groin strain) and now Luke Weaver (right shoulder strain) on the 10-day injured list.

“It’s around us. We know that,” Lovullo said of the injury bug. “We’ve got to deal with it. It’s how we deal with that adversity that I’m most curious about and what I’m paying attention to most.”

Lovullo is also mindful of exploring how to overcome the situation and navigate the bumpy road the Diamondbacks are currently on.

For that, he’s considering turning to someone completely outside of MLB.

“Before I went to bed last night, I was thinking about calling Tocc [former Arizona Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet] and asking him what the National Hockey League went through when they missed an entire season, what that healthy return, that new season after the year long layoff, what that looked like and if they figured anything out from it,” he said.

“We have nothing to compare it to but I do know the National Hockey League had something very similar so we’re going to try to figure it out. We don’t sit still here.”

All to say, Lovullo and his team aren’t letting the stream of injuries shake their resolve. The D-backs are keeping their focus on continuing to improve mistakes, tightening up fundamental skills and battling for wins.

“I’ve been relying on the veterans. I’ve been in constant contact with the veterans to make sure we keep this thing afloat,” Lovullo said.

“These are very turbulent waters. … They keep getting more and more turbulent but eventually they’re going to calm and it’s up to me to keep this big rig on its course and that’s my intention.”

The D-backs and Dodgers face off Tuesday night with first pitch at 7:10 p.m. Listen live on Arizona’s Sports Station 98.7 FM.

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