Arizona Diamondbacks’ prospects shine bright in comeback win vs. Guardians

5. Deyvison De Los Santos
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A pair of the Diamondbacks’ top prospects delivered key hits to engineer a late-inning comeback on Monday night, a reminder that even with a host of young players already at the major league level, the organization has more talent coming.

Jordan Lawlar connected for a go-ahead, two-run homer to cap a three-run eighth inning, launching a hanging slider out to left field.

The home run sparked manager Torey Lovullo’s imagination.

“I was watching Jordan run around the bases and kind of projecting in my own mind,” Lovullo said. “I think we were all sitting there thinking it, you were probably sitting up there thinking it: ‘What is it going to look like one day?’ It looks very bright.”

Lawlar’s home run followed another big hit by a young player. Earlier in the inning, slugger Deyvison De Los Santos lined a double into the left-center field gap to drive home a run. The hit came off a 90 mph slider from Guardians reliever Emmanuel Clase.

“That was against one of the best closers in baseball,” Lovullo noted.

Lawlar, 20, a shortstop who ranks 13th on Baseball America’s preseason Top 100 prospect list, was the sixth overall pick in the 2021 draft. De Los Santos, 19, a third baseman, was one of the minors’ leading hitters last season. Both reached Double-A last season and played in the Arizona Fall League.

Asked how it feels to know the club has another wave of prospects coming, Lovullo said, “Great. The future looks bright. Very bright.”

Secondary talk

Left-hander Madison Bumgarner went to his change-up 10 times on Monday, eliciting two swings and misses on the pitch, continuing what has been a trend for him this spring: a pitch that has long eluded him seems to be finally rounding into form.

“Best it ever has,” Bumgarner said, when asked how his change-up is feeling. “That’s not saying a whole lot, but the best it ever has.”

Bumgarner has tried for years to get a good feel for the pitch. Some days, it’s there. Others, it’s not. But it seems the pitch has been there far more often than not this spring.

“It’s got a little bit of movement — enough movement where it gives me a little more confidence to throw it, especially behind in the count,” Bumgarner said. “Times when you need to make a pitch, I feel pretty confident throwing it. It’s still my fourth-best pitch. But it’s at least something I can use now.”

Though change-ups tend to be most effective against opposite-handed hitters, Bumgarner has even used the pitch occasionally against lefties this spring, getting a handful of whiffs on it. He chalked that up to “experimenting,” adding that he probably won’t do too much of that once the season starts.

“You’re going to do the extreme stuff now and see what happens,” Bumgarner said. “But there’s a lot of better options. I might tell you this and throw 20 of them the next game. I might throw zero. It just depends on how it’s feeling and what everything else is doing and what they’re telling me I need to do.”

Bumgarner is lined up to start the third game of the season on Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

Diamondbacks 7, Guardians 6

At Chase Field

At the plate: The Diamondbacks did not record their first hit until the seventh inning. The starting lineup, comprised mostly of players who likely will start on Opening Day, was shut down over 4 2/3 hitless innings by Guardians RHP Aaron Civale. In the seventh, 2B Josh Rojas, DH Ketel Marte and LF Lourdes Gurriel Jr. each singled, and CF Corbin Carroll laced a two-run double into the right-center field gap. “It just was really nice to see guys dig in, fight through the counts and get some extension and get their hands on a ball they could drive,” Lovullo said.

On the mound: LHP Madison Bumgarner gave up four runs (two earned) in five innings, an outing in which he generally threw well but had a couple of things go awry in the fifth. He was beat to the bag by 2B Andres Gimenez on a grounder to first to start the inning, then two batters later threw wildly to first after fielding a bunt in front of the plate. “Things kind of got weird in the last inning,” Bumgarner said. “I was trying to figure out what happened myself. It looked like I got tired. I didn’t necessarily feel that way, but all signs point to that.” After that, Lovullo eventually handed the ball to three pitchers expected to handle high-leverage roles for him. RHP Kevin Ginkel got the seventh, RHP Miguel Castro the eighth and RHP Scott McGough the ninth. Ginkel struggled in his inning, but Castro and McGough both threw well. That McGough took the ninth adds to the speculation that he could get first crack at the closer’s job. “I like his tempo, his rhythm, the way he stands on the mound, the carry on his fastball, the ability to throw two or three pitches at any time,” Lovullo said. “He executed very well tonight.”

Extra bases: Diamondbacks SS Nick Ahmed made a leaping catch of an RF Oscar Gonzalez line drive in the sixth. Diamondbacks 3B Evan Longoria started a nice double play in the fifth on a hard-hit ground ball by 3B Jose Ramirez.

Tuesday’s game: Diamondbacks RHP Ryne Nelson vs. Guardians RHP Cal Quantrill, 12:40 p.m., Chase Field.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Diamondbacks’ prospects shine bright in comeback win vs. Guardians