Phantom thread: Diamondbacks manufacture motivation, claim series vs. Giants

The quote began to circulate early Monday afternoon, one Diamondbacks player passing it along to another, a sort of clubhouse version of the telephone game.

The gist, they say, was that after his San Francisco Giants team was swept in four games at Dodger Stadium, manager Gabe Kapler had said his team would come to Arizona to “get right.”

With the implication being that they were pushovers who exist only for good teams to knock around, the Diamondbacks used Kapler’s words as motivation, then proceeded to beat the Giants in back-to-back games, including a 7-3 win on Tuesday night at Chase Field, to put themselves in position for a sweep on Wednesday.

As tidy as that narrative might be, there was one problem.

Kapler might never have said it.

“Definitely not,” Kapler said.

No such quotes could be found in recent Giants media reports. Bay Area reporters had no recollection of Kapler saying it. And none of the Diamondbacks players who had caught wind of the supposed quote could say where they first heard it.

“It was just kind of just the talk the other day,” first baseman Christian Walker said. “Right before they came into town.”

“I’m not sure who first brought it into the clubhouse,” third baseman Josh Rojas said. “I know it started circulating pretty early. As soon as we got here I heard the message.”

There was no debating what took place on the field. For the second day in a row, the Diamondbacks beat up on the Giants, a club one year removed from a 107-win season.

They got two big swings, the first from Sergio Alcantara (two-run homer), the next from Christian Walker (three-run homer), both of which came against Giants left-hander Carlos Rodon. They got a piecemeal effort from their pitching staff, including a rare five-out effort from reliever Ian Kennedy.

And, as they have four times in five games since the All-Star break, the Diamondbacks managed to put it all together for a full nine innings, avoiding the kind of breakdowns that had cost them dearly on so many nights during the first half of the season.

Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo pointed to two things that helped set the stage for Alcantara’s home run, a second-inning shot that put the Diamondbacks ahead, 2-0.

On the previous play, not only did Walker slide hard into second, but Jake McCarthy ran hard down the line to avoid a potential double play. Next, Lovullo believes McCarthy managed to divert Rodon’s attention away from Alcantara.

“I think he clearly was distracted by a couple of situations when he was picking off,” Lovullo said. “That’s what happens and Serge took advantage. Those are the little things that I think we did very, very well.”

An inning later, Rodon put himself in a bad situation, walking leadoff batter Geraldo Perdomo before clipping Carson Kelly’s back foot with a breaking ball. Two batters later, Walker blasted a first-pitch, 98-mph fastball from Rodon into the left-field seats to put the Diamondbacks back in front, 5-2.

“I felt like, a couple of hitters before me, something told me that he was going to try to challenge me with a fastball,” Walker said.

Asked about the Kapler quote that had made the rounds, Walker was diplomatic. He admitted to never having heard or seen it himself. He acknowledged the possibility it was taken out of context. But he also liked the fact that the Diamondbacks interpreted it the way they did.

“To be honest, I like that we took it personal, regardless of (what he) meant,” Walker said. “I think it’s good for us to play with an edge. Any kind of motivation we have to create that edge organically is really important.”

Said Rojas: “When you hear something like that, it’s something to add a little bit more motivation than there already is. There’s so many games in the year you try to look for any little thing you can to grasp onto and give yourself a little bit more motivation.”

Kapler called the alleged quote “out of character” in terms of the way he discusses opposing teams with reporters.

“If I did say something like that, somehow, some way in passing, that’s pretty much the opposite of the sentiment that I’ve shared with all of our local guys every single time out,” he said. “So if that’s where it landed for some reason, that’s what it is. But our guys will tell you that that’s not how I view any team.”

Rojas was told of Kapler’s denial, and he nodded and smirked when asked if the Diamondbacks might start making a habit of manufacturing quotes from opposing teams.

“Yeah, we might,” he said, drawing laughs from reporters. “We might just start making stuff up. I don’t know where it started. I just know that it started spreading around the clubhouse. I grabbed onto it. I know a couple guys grabbed onto it. So if you guys want to start spreading more rumors when a team is coming to town, we’re OK with it. A little bit more motivation. I like it.”

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phantom thread: Diamondbacks manufacture motivation in win vs. Giants