Diamondbacks Daily: Christian Walker expected back Monday; two others resuming baseball work

The Diamondbacks and Padres concluded their four-game series at Chase Field on Sunday.

Diamondbacks' health updates

Following Sunday's game, manager Torey Lovullo had some updates on the statuses of two players on the injured list and first baseman Christian Walker.

Walker was hit by a pitch in the left forearm on Saturday and didn't play Sunday. He's expected to be available Monday when the Diamondbacks open a three-game series with the Kansas City Royals.

"He was unavailable (Sunday), unfortunately," Lovullo said, adding that he was looking to give veterans a day off in the very near future anyway. "He wasn't going to arm wrestle me to come out of the lineup. So I think overall, he'll be ready to go (Monday)."

Catcher Carson Kelly was in the clubhouse before Sunday's game and put on catcher's gear as he moves toward a return from a forearm fracture. Lovullo said Kelly is going to resume some baseball activity and get a bat in his hand starting this coming week. He won't be swinging the bat, bur rather working on range of motion.

Outfielder Kyle Lewis has been out due to illness since earlier this month, but he was back in the clubhouse Sunday. Lovullo said it was a non-COVID illness and Lewis has resumed baseball activities because he's feeling better.

Diamondbacks hit three home runs but lose game, series to Padres

Sunday was an uphill climb all afternoon for the Diamondbacks, who fell behind by three runs early, trailed by six in the latter stages and rallied, only to lose 7-5 to the San Diego Padres in the finale of a four-game series at Chase Field.

Arizona (12-11) got solo home runs from Alek Thomas, Nick Ahmed and Jake McCarthy, but couldn’t overcome a rough start from pitcher Drey Jameson and was forced to go deep into the bullpen.

Jameson (2-1) lasted one inning. The Diamondbacks trailed 3-0 before coming up to bat for the first time in the game. It was 7-1 going into the bottom of the seventh.

The Padres (12-12) took the series three games to one, handing the Diamondbacks their second series loss of the season. With the loss, Arizona and the Los Angeles Dodgers are tied for firs place in the National League West, with the Padres in close pursuit.

Yu Darvish out of game, but Padres still in control

Padres starter Yu Darvish is in line for his first win of the season even though he exited the game in the bottom of the sixth, in the middle of an at-bat.

Darvish left with what looked like a leg injury, as a he bent over to stretch while on the mound. He walked off with a trainer, limping slightly, with a trainer. Darvish allowed a run on two hits with five strikeouts and five walks in 5 ⅔ innings.

San Diego is ahead 7-3 through seven innings. It was 7-1 until Alek Thomas and Nick Ahmed hit back-to-back solo home runs in the bottom of the seventh. Ahmed's was his first of the season, Thomas his second.

Thomas and Ahmed collected the second pair of back-to-back home runs this season, according to the Diamondbacks. The last time it happened was April 7 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, when Evan Longoria and Corbin Carroll went back-to-back in the sixth inning.

D-Backs get one back after Marte triple

Ketel Marte's triple to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning led to the first run of the game for the Diamondbacks, after Evan Longoria's sacrifice fly, making it 4-1 in favor of the Padres. Corbin Carroll reached second base on that fly ball but was held there.

San Diego went back in front by four runs, 5-1, on Matt Carpenter's line drive home run over the right field fence in the top of the fifth off the Diamondbacks' second reliever of the day, Peter Solomon. The exit velocity on Carpenter's homer was 99.2 mph.

Padres starter Yu Darvish is still in the game through five innings.

Drew Jameson done after one inning

Diamondbacks starting pitcher Drey Jameson had a hard time finding the strike zone consistently and gave up several hard-hit balls to the San Diego Padres, and was lifted after one inning of work.

Left-hander Anthony Misiewiscz entered the game in the top of the second for Arizona.

Jameson allowed three runs on three hits and three walks, striking out one. He managed to escape the inning with a strikeout of Austin Nola with the bases loaded.

The Diamondbacks appear to be still trying to stretch out Jameson, who after starting the season as a reliever has made two starts. None have lasted more than four innings.

Corbin Carroll in '3' hole to stay

On Wednesday afternoon in St. Louis, while all eyes were on Madison Bumgarner, Torey Lovullo quietly slipped Corbin Carroll into the third spot in his lineup.

Modern analytics suggest your best hitter should bat second, but the third spot still carries cache. For over a century, it’s been the realm of the sport’s best players. Now, just 50 games into his career, it’s the responsibility with which Carroll has been entrusted — the latest step in an escalated path to stardom for a player who became the least experienced $100 million man in MLB history last month.

“He's controlling the zone,” Lovullo said on Sunday before the conclusion of the Padres series. “He's starting to draw some walks, which is always a sign for me. And he's just barreling the baseball. There's a ton of velo coming off his bat. And I just thought it was the right time.”

When pressed, Lovullo declined to give Carroll the official title of ‘3 hole hitter.’ But in his own roundabout way, he confirmed that the 22-year-old is there to stay.

“I do not want to bounce him around,” Lovullo said. “So he's gonna be sitting in that area for a little while.”

Carroll, for his part, likes that consistency.

“I'm kind of a routine guy so having some set structure in that, I'd appreciate,” Carroll said.

So far, Lovullo has lived up to his word, batting Carroll third in each of the last five games. According to Carroll, Lovullo downplayed the promotion, simply showing him the lineup card before Wednesday’s game. Carroll, too, offered a typically reserved response to the news.

“In terms of preparation-wise, I've got maybe a few more days where I'm getting five at-bats instead of four,” Carroll said. “But other than that, I feel like where I was before, it's still a middle of the order guy. Don't view it too much differently in terms of what my goals are in that spot.”

While most major leaguers grew up hitting in the middle of the order, it is a bit of a shift for Carroll. As an undersized player with the fastest sprint times in baseball, he spent his entire life as a leadoff hitter, including during his brief tour though the minor leagues.

Carroll acknowledged that there is a difference hitting leadoff compared to third, saying, “I view the roles a little differently,” but did not want to expand on those differences.

Whatever they are, they haven’t proven too much of an obstacle for him. On the season, Carroll is slashing .266/.301/.481 with four home runs and seven stolen bases — both team highs.

Lovullo’s move to bump Carroll up in the order paid off immediately. On Wednesday, he tripled his season walk total from one to three while also roping two doubles. In four games since the promotion, he is 5 for 17 with three doubles.

Although Carroll did not want to dive into the nuances of his new role, he did highlight one benefit.

“it's always nice having Christian Walker behind you as well for protection,” Carroll said. “But wherever they put me, I'm happy.”

Sunday's pitching matchup

Diamondbacks RHP Drey Jameson (2-0, 2.25) vs. Padres RHP Yu Darvish (0-2, 3.44).

Jameson gave up two runs in 3 2/3 innings against the Cardinals on Tuesday in St. Louis. He issued four walks and struck out three. Because he is still building his pitch count back up following a stint in the bullpen, he was removed after just 71 pitches. … Jameson is eliciting swings and misses on his slider at a 64.5 percent rate. He is averaging 95 mph with his sinker. … Jameson faced the Padres in relief on April 4, throwing two innings of one-run ball to earn the save. … Darvish started against the Diamondbacks that same day, giving up one run in five innings. He allowed five runs against the Mets in his second start, but was dominant against the Brewers (seven innings, one run, 12 strikeouts) in his most recent outing.

Coming up

Monday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Tommy Henry (1-0, 6.33)* vs. Royals RHP Brad Keller (2-2, 3.00)*Stats from Triple-A Reno.

Henry was brought up from Triple-A Reno to move into Madison Bumgarner’s vacated rotation spot, which was open after Bumgarner was recently designated for assignment. Henry, a 25-year-old left-hander, went 3-4 with a 5.36 ERA in nine starts for the Diamondbacks last season. Keller is 37-51 in his career but is to face Arizona for the first time.

Tuesday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Ryne Nelson (1-0, 3.71) vs. Royals RHP Brady Singer (1-2, 8.14).

Wednesday: At Chase Field, 12:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (3-1, 2.59) vs. Royals TBA.

Thursday: Off

Friday: At Coors Field, 5:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Merrill Kelly (1-3, 3.42) vs. Colorado Rockies TBA.

Up next: Royals

The Diamondbacks open a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals Monday. The two teams played each other four times last season with Arizona winning three of the four, including both at home. Kansas City is off to a miserable start in 2023, 5-16 entering Sunday’s game at the Los Angeles Angels, but four of those wins came on the road. Not much is expected competitively from the Royals this season, but they have some promising young talent and one of the game’s top catchers in Salvador Perez.

Saturday's result: Padres take third game of series over D-Backs

Christian Walker drove in all three of the Diamondbacks runs Saturday night at Chase Field, but the San Diego Padres took the third game of the series with a 5-3 win.

Walker gave the Diamondbacks a 3-2 lead after San Diego led 2-0 through half an inning. His single cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the first, and his two-run home run put Arizona in front in the third inning.

But the Diamondbacks failed to score the rest of the way, despite out-hitting the Padres 9-6.

Losing pitcher Merrill Kelly (1-3) threw five innings and allowed four runs on three hits with five walks and seven strikeouts. Kelly is 8-3 in his career against the Padres and lost to San Diego for the first time in his career at Chase Field.

Fernando Tatis Jr. homered for San Diego, his first home run since September of 2021, and Ha-Seong Kim drove in tying and go-ahead runs with a single of Kyle Nelson in the sixth.

The Diamondbacks (12-10) remain in first place in the NL West, a game up on the Los Angeles Dodgers and 1 ½ games ahead of the Padres (11-12).

—Jose Romero

Friday's game: Gallen cruises, D-Backs seal win with 7-run eighth

The Diamondbacks sent 11 batters to home plate in the bottom of the eighth inning, including Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll twice. Seven runs scored on six hits, including a two-run bloop single for Gabriel Moreno, a two-run double for Geraldo Perdomo and RBI singles for Marte and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

That sealed a 9-0 victory and the Diamondbacks are 12-9 and in first place in the NL West, with a two-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Padres are 10-12.

Zac Gallen improved to 3-1 with a 2.59 ERA on the season. He had 11 strikeouts.

'Gotta be the shoes': D-Backs' Zac Gallen credits cleats for dominant start

The Diamondbacks had 12 hits with three hits and three RBI from Moreno, Marte had two hits and two RBI, and Perdomo had two doubles and two RBI.

—Jose M. Romero

SCOREBOARD | STANDINGS | INJURIES

Thursday's game: Mistakes plague Diamondbacks in series opener

Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed went to a knee and reached out on a backhand. He was expecting a short hop on the ground ball from Nelson Cruz in the sixth inning on Thursday night. He did not get one — and the ball clanked off his glove and squirted away.

“I made the play that ended up leading to two runs,” Ahmed said. “It just sucks. Nothing I would have done different, I just didn’t make the play.”

It was a double-play ball that wasn’t, and while it was the lowest-hanging fruit in a 7-5 loss to the San Diego Padres on Thursday night, it was not the only reason the Diamondbacks lost.

They lost because Ryne Nelson’s command was just erratic enough to bite him, because they could not get a runner in from third with less than two outs, because Fernando Tatis Jr., in his first game since 2021, made a rangy play at his new position in right field. They lost because their offense went quiet.

“The feeling I’m getting each time we go out there and play for nine innings is we’re doing a lot of things right, and I want to continue to capitalize on those,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “But the things we need to get better at, we will continue to create some awareness.”

Nelson issued three walks in his five innings. All three scored. He also gave up only three hits. The Padres managed to turn that into five runs. Trent Grisham lined a two-run double off Nelson in the second, the first of two such doubles for him on the night. Xander Bogaerts drove a hanging curveball out to left in the third. Matt Carpenter hit a solo shot on another pitch that caught too much plate in the fourth.

“It was frustrating,” Nelson said. “The walks got me. I just was not over the plate when I needed to be and too much over the plate when I needed to be a little bit more fine.”

Trailing 5-1, the Diamondbacks fought back in the fourth to tie it, getting a two-run single from Josh Rojas and a run-scoring double from Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who scampered home not long after courtesy of a pair of Michael Wacha wild pitches.

Then came the sixth. The Padres had one out with a runner on first and the slow-footed Cruz at the plate when Ahmed went to his backhand. He knew if he came up with it cleanly, it likely was an inning-ending double play for reliever Kyle Nelson.

“It was kind of an in-between hop,” Ahmed said. “The field was a little bit harder than it usually is. I was expecting it to give me a short hop and I got an in-between hop. I just missed it.”

The ball trickled away just far enough that Ahmed couldn’t salvage even an out at first.

Two batters later, the Padres made them pay, with Grisham again lacing a two-run double, this one getting over the head of Alek Thomas in center field and going all the way to the wall.

“You hate to see it be the difference in the game,” Lovullo said of Ahmed’s error, “but unfortunately it showed up that way.”

Of course, Lovullo also noted a handful of chances the Diamondbacks had, most notably when they had a runner on third and one out in the sixth and could not get the runner home. Corbin Carroll, swinging on a 3-0 pitch from Brent Honeywell Jr., popped out to shortstop on a 94 mph fastball at the top of the zone.

“I felt like he was going to impact the baseball and there was no guarantee he was going to see a 3-1 fastball,” Lovullo said of the decision to give Carroll a green light. “Percentages are less than 50 percent he was going to see a fastball 3-1. I felt like that was an opportunity for us to crease the baseball and pull within one run. It was a strike, but it wasn’t a strike we should have swung at.”

In his return from a performance-enhancing drug suspension that cost him 80 games, Tatis went hitless at the plate in five at-bats. He also made an impressive snag on a ball Rojas drove to the right-field corner to end the eighth.

“I knew I was a little out front on it,” Rojas said. “But I thought I had a chance to clip him there. Then a great play by Tatis. He ran it down. He covered a lot of ground right there. I thought if I didn’t clip him, I at least got a double and got it over his head, but he ran it down and made a good play.”

That was one of 12 consecutive outs made by Diamondbacks hitters to end the game.

“We didn’t do a great job on their bullpen,” Ahmed said. “Hopefully if we see those guys again in this series we can put better at-bats on them.”

Anthony Misiewicz replaces Madison Bumgarner on roster

The Diamondbacks selected the contract of left-hander Anthony Misiewicz from Triple-A Reno, inserting the reliever into the bullpen in the roster spot vacated by left-hander Madison Bumgarner, who was designated for assignment earlier in the day.

Misiewicz, 28, owns a 4.43 ERA in parts of three seasons in the majors. The Diamondbacks acquired him from the St. Louis Cardinals in a minor deal early on the second day of the season.

Misiewicz posted a 3.68 ERA in 7 1/3 innings in Reno, where he has allowed eight hits and walked three while striking out six.

It is possible that his stay will be a short one. The Diamondbacks are planning to start left-hander Tommy Henry against the Kansas City Royals on Monday. Henry is not yet on the roster.

Pregame reading

More: Madison Bumgarner designated for assignment by Diamondbacks

'A semi-unicorn': The anatomy of a fastball and how it explains Ryne Nelson

More: Josh Rojas’ defense shining bright for Diamondbacks in season’s early days

More: Diamondbacks’ Corbin Carroll adjusting, learning in season’s opening weeks

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Diamondbacks Daily: News updates on injured list players, Christian Walker