While he said being severely shorthanded in the bullpen happens “way more often” than it might seem, manager Torey Lovullo on Tuesday shined light on the process the Diamondbacks use to determine whether relievers are available on a nightly basis.
Lovullo was forced on Monday night to stick with reliever Alex Young, sending him to the plate in a tie game with the bases loaded in the sixth inning because, he said, he did not have enough relievers available to cover the rest of the game.
Lovullo said the team considers a variety of variables every day, including how many games they have pitched in five- and 10-day periods, how many pitches they have thrown in those games, how many times they have been asked to warm up, how many warm-up tosses they made before entering a game and how many pitches they throw in games.