Pham scratched from Diamondbacks lineup after slamming bat into rack

The Arizona Diamondbacks were without a key player in their 8-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday at Chase Field.

Tommy Pham, the team’s designated hitter, was a late scratch from the starting lineup. He was replaced by Evan Longoria.

“He has a bruised righty pinky that was causing him a little bit of discomfort through the course of his swing,” manager Torey Lovullo said Sunday. “He was trying to fight his way into the lineup … but when he went and took some swings pregame, there was just too much pain.”

Pham delved into the situation more after the loss.

“[The pinky’s] just swollen,” Pham said. “Got an X-ray, there’s no break so that’s good news. … I should be good to go tomorrow.”

Pham fessed up on how the injury occurred.

“[Saturday] when I struck out in the last at-bat, I slammed the bat in the bat rack and my pinky caught the bat rack.”

The strikeout came in the 8th inning of Saturday’s 7-3 loss to Baltimore. Pham was caught looking by Orioles’ reliever DL Hall for his third strikeout of the night.

Longoria went 1-for-3 with a walk in Pham’s stead on Sunday.