Why Did Torey Lovullo Pull Tommy Henry Early in Loss to Dodgers?

During last nights game against the Dodgers, an eventual 8-4 Diamondbacks loss, Torey Lovullo made what seemed to be a questionable decision that cost him the game. He pulled Tommy Henry after just four innings and 72 pitches and trailing by a score of just 2-1.

As is often the case however, once there was a chance to ask the Manager and the player about the situation, an underlying reason not evident to those watching emerged. In fact, Henry was struggling, fatigued, and "out of whack" by his own admission. He communicated that to his manager, who acted accordingly,

Henry had labored through the first couple of innings giving up four hits, two walks, and two runs. He was fortunate the damage was not worse, as the average exit velocity on eight balls in play was 100 MPH.

He managed to get double plays in each of the first two innings to get out of trouble, the second of which came on a scorched ground ball from Shohei Ohtani 107 MPH off the bat. It went right to Ketel Marte however who started a 4-6-3 double play.

Henry seemed to settle down after that, retiring the side in order in the third and giving up just a one out single in the fourth. But knowing his pitcher was fatigued and feeling out of whack, and with the top of the Dodgers order looming in the fifth inning, Lovullo decided to cut Henry's outing short.

"I clipped Tommy early." Lovullo said. "He threw the ball pretty well.  I know he was laboring a little bit and he shared a little bit of information, and we ask our guys to do that. "

So what information did Henry share exactly? This is how he described his outing and what he was telling his manager.

"Tonight was a little grindy. I felt like I was pitching upstream at times. ……I just felt a little out of whack. It’s just kind of one of those days from that standpoint. I feel like they happen. You’ve just got to fully commit to not battling yourself.  There’s a temptation there to try and find it, try and search and make a ton of changes, I just tried to throw all that out the window today and compete with the hitter. "

On follow up he was asked if he was indeed fatigued, like his manager had suggested. "Yeah, I mean pitching like that when it’s not necessarily 1-2-3 innings and you’re kind of grinding out there for most of the outing can be a little bit exhausting. "

What happened next is something we've seen all too often. The bullpen gave up multiple runs, something they've done immediately after replacing the starter in four of the last five games. (Hat tip to Jesse Friedman of PHNX for this information) Andrew Saalfrank and Scott McGough combined for five walks, two doubles, and four runs allowed giving the Dodgers a 6-1 lead.

With Henry seemingly settled down in the third in the fourth innings, it's fair to question why the manager made the decision he did, especially when it blows up in his face like it so frequently does with this group of reliever. One thing you learn when covering a team every day however is to wait until you've at least had a chance to ask the manager and the players what was going in before passing judgment on the decision.

At least half of the time there is a good explanation for a decision gone wrong, but by the time we get to learn what it was, most fans have turned off the television or left the stadium. Some turn to social media to express their anger or even disgust. That's fair, and understandable. It's up to us in the media to try to get to the bottom of it and relay that information to the reader. What the reader does with that information is up to them.

One thing to know about Torey Lovullo is that when there isn't a good explanation as there was last night, he will take responsibility for the mistakes he makes. This wasn't a mistake last night however. He removed a fatigued, struggling starting pitcher and the pitchers who followed him did not do their job.