azcentral sports' Nick Piecoro and Rick Morin discuss the Diamondbacks and Dodgers series in our Shot Clock video. azcentral sports
LOS ANGELES -- On the day left fielder David Peralta returned to the starting lineup, center fielder A.J. Pollock got a scheduled day off, according to manager Torey Lovullo.
Peralta had missed the past two games. Lovullo said the first day off was scheduled, but he did not play Wednesday in San Francisco due to a sore left hand, an injury that’s bothered him off and on since the final week of spring training.
“It’s feeling good,” Peralta said Friday afternoon. “We’re just trying to get ahead and be smart. We decided to give it an extra day, plus the day off yesterday, to help the hand. It’s all good. I’ve already swung and it feels good.”
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For Pollock, this is his first rest of the year; he had played every inning of every game. Lovullo said he had been planning since Wednesday to give him the day off, and he said it’s a coincidence that Pollock arrived at the park feeling under the weather on Friday.
“You know how we feel about time down and rest,” Lovullo said. “I think with those very, very important guys that we’re going to count on, if we can get them an off day in combination with the scheduled off day, it can pay you back a little bit more.”
That said, Lovullo said he had no plans to sit first baseman Paul Goldschmidt.
“Not while he’s swinging this way,” Lovullo said, referring to Goldschmidt’s hot streak that began in San Francisco on Monday. “I’m going to stay with him for this situation he’s put himself into because he’s getting so hot I don’t want to interrupt that. I’ll probably have a conversation with Paul and get a feel for how he’s doing physically and mentally before I determine when that game is.”
Beating Goliath
Lovullo said he’s proud of the fact the Diamondbacks have beaten the Dodgers in the past nine regular season matchups dating back to last season, but he isn’t overlooking what happened in the division series last October.
“It means we’re doing a lot of things right,” Lovullo said. “That’s what pleases me the most. But you can’t forget they won three really important games in the middle of those nine games. They’re still the Dodgers. We like coming here. We like playing them. I’m sure they feel the same way.”
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Lamb update
Third baseman Jake Lamb, who is out with a sprained left shoulder, continued to make progress toward a return, Lovullo said. Lamb will participate in an array of activities on Saturday that are typical for a normal pregame, like taking batting practice and ground balls.
“We’ll get through tomorrow, and then the next thing would be live at-bats, live BP (batting practice) or a sim game of some sort,” Lovullo said.
Lovullo said nothing has been decided but that he’ll push for Lamb to play in rehab games before returning from the disabled list.
Lamb injured the shoulder on April 2 in the team’s fourth game of the season while diving to catch a foul ball.
Short hop
Right-hander Randall Delgado (left oblique) is scheduled to pitch another inning for High-A Visalia on Saturday, Lovullo said. This will be Delgado’s third such appearance.
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