Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo argues with umpire Laz Diaz. Photo Credit: MASN Photo Credit: MASN
By Sam Neumann on

Torey Lovullo was going to get his money’s worth.

The Arizona Diamondbacks manager was livid — and rightfully so.

In the top of the seventh inning, in what ended up being a 4-3 win for the D-backs, Laz Diaz didn’t call a check swing in Merrill Kelly’s favor. Tyler O’Neill clearly offered at the pitch. Everyone in the stadium thought so, except Diaz. Kelly, not to be confused with Megyn, would walk O’Neill, and it effectively ended his night.

Seeing that he had nothing to lose, Kelly would give Diaz a piece of his mind. He barked at the umpire as he walked off the mound, his night ending his abject disappointment thanks to a controversial call.

With the go-ahead run coming to the plate, it looked like it would be the second disappointing night in a row for the D-backs. They probably didn’t take solace in the banter coming from the Baltimore Orioles broadcast booth the night before, as Kevin Brown and Ben McDonald wondered how much of a head start they’d need versus Michael Phelps in a swim-off.

Yet here they were a night later, calling out a controversial call that favored the Orioles.

“Laz just needs to turn around and walk down the right field line and stay away from him,” said McDonald.

That was when Kelly added an ejection to his final statline.

“Uh oh, I think Laz might be throwing him out,” Brown said. “No, Laz is pointing to the dugout. Torrey’s coming out of the dugout. Laz is just picking a fight right now. Just let him be mad and walk away. And now, Torrey’s going to get his money’s worth.”

That he did.

“Like I said five seconds ago, the best thing Diaz should’ve done was just turn and walk down the right field line and stay out of it,” McDonald added. “But, instead, he chose to engage, and this is what you get.”

You get an ejection of the Diamondbacks’ manager and Tuesday’s starting pitcher on the other side of a commercial break.

“Well, we’ll see if Torrey Lovullo is still in the game on the other side of the break as we get a lesson in conflict moderation from Laz Diaz,” said Brown.

Lovullo would be watching the rest of the game from his office. And if he tuned into the O’s broadcast booth, he’d see that each Brown and McDonald seemingly had his back.

“Look, that’s a swing,” Brown said. “I mean, we’ve gotta be honest about that.”

“If he would’ve hit it, it would’ve been a double,” McDonald replied.

The only double, in addition to Cedric Mullins’ leadoff two-bagger to start the seventh inning, was the double ejection of Lovullo and Kelly.

Maybe Diaz will listen to McDonald next time instead of picking a fight he didn’t need.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann