Stars ride the pine as Diamondbacks' 'understudies' blank Cubs

To further explain his decision to bench his top four everyday players on Wednesday night – while continuing to say he wasn’t giving up on the season – Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo drew a parenting analogy. He recalled the look he’s seen on his kids’ faces after they studied hard for a test but didn’t do well.

“You know that look; you can tell what’s on their mind,” Lovullo said. “I’ve seen a few of those looks from our guys. I just thought it was time to give them a rest.”

As difficult as his argument was to buy before the game, it was perhaps even harder to question after it. The Diamondbacks’ ‘B’ team, a group of hitters that jokingly referred to themselves pregame as the Reno Aces,…