'Focused' Tommy Pham delivers again as Diamondbacks open series with win over Mets
NEW YORK — Someone with the Diamondbacks tried to encourage Tommy Pham after he recently hit a ball hard for an out. Pham was having none of it.
“You try to high-five him after a well-hit ball,” manager Torey Lovullo said, “and he’s going to tell you, ‘Not well enough. I didn’t get a hit.’ He wants to get his hits, contribute and help this team win baseball games. That’s all that’s on his mind every single day.”
And Pham just keeps delivering — maybe not every single day, but most of them of late, including Monday night’s 4-3 win over the New York Mets, in which he came through with three hits, including the game-tying solo homer in the eighth inning at Citi Field.
The bullpen worked five scoreless innings, Ketel Marte dinked a double to left to bring home the go-ahead run in the ninth and the Diamondbacks won for the fourth time in five games on a road trip that has a chance to be emphatic.
The evening marked the 34th game in which Pham has played since the Diamondbacks acquired him from these same Mets on Aug. 1. He has had a knack for delivering timely hits, but his numbers since the deal are more solid than spectacular; he is hitting .261/.299/.486 with six home runs.
The Diamondbacks believe his biggest contributions have come in less tangible ways.
“It’s unbelievable how focused he is,” Lovullo said.
“Great clubhouse presence,” center fielder Alek Thomas said. “Real knowledgeable guy. We’re really happy to have him.”
Lovullo said Pham will speak up in hitters’ meetings or make insightful remarks in the dugout.
“Those are things you cannot measure,” Lovullo said. “You try to pass along your information. There’s no greater gift than sharing information and he is on a quest to make this team better by being himself and sharing what he knows through that experience that he’s got. That’s invaluable.”
Pham led off the fourth by lining the third pitch he saw from Mets lefty Jose Quintana into right field for a double. The Diamondbacks would score twice in the inning.
He led off again in the eighth. With the Mets leading by a run, Pham jumped on a cutter from reliever Trevor Gott and launched it out to right-center to tie the game.
“That was a huge hit by a player who has been really big for us all season long since he got here,” Lovullo said.
Shortly after arriving in Arizona, Pham authored a 15-game hit streak, but he complained to reporters on multiple occasions that he wasn’t swinging the bat well. He should have no such complaints over the past week, in which he has scalded balls to all fields seemingly multiple times a game.
Pham is 11 for 27 (.407) with four doubles and three homers in his past six games.
Thomas shot a one-out single to right to bring Marte to the plate in the ninth. With the count 0-1, Marte appeared to get jammed on a fastball in on his hands. He swung, cueing it into left, but he appeared unaware of where the ball had gone.
Thomas, meanwhile, saw it all the way and raced around the bases to score when Mets left fielder Jeff McNeil had trouble picking it up down the line.
Closer Paul Sewald walked a highwire in the ninth, working around a pair of walks, but eventually secured his 12th save in 14 tries with the Diamondbacks.
“We just continued to push forward,” Thomas said. “I never got that feeling in the dugout that we were going to lose the game.”
Diamondbacks place Gabriel Moreno on paternity list
NEW YORK — The Diamondbacks placed catcher Gabriel Moreno on the paternity list Monday, replacing him on the roster with Jose Herrera, who was recalled from Triple-A Reno.
Moreno traveled to Orlando to be with his wife, Rosmila, for the birth of their first child.
“We’re hoping to get good news here in the next 24 hours and then talking about piecing it together from there,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said when asked about when Moreno might rejoin the team. “He’s given up to three days while he’s on that list. I hope definitely by the fourth day for sure and possibly earlier.”
Moreno is hitting .279/.328/.412 with 16 doubles and seven homers in 323 plate appearances this season, but has been an even more potent weapon behind the plate, where he has thrown out 41 percent of opposing base-stealers, the second-best mark in the majors.
The Diamondbacks are 49-31 in games he has started this season.
“He’s an important part of this team,” Lovullo said. “He, of course, wants to be with his wife and see the newborn, and that’s where he should be. But he also wants to be back here as soon as possible, which speaks volumes about what he means to this team.”
Newcomer Seby Zavala, a waiver claim whom the Diamondbacks added to the roster last week, is the starting catcher on Monday night.
Herrera rejoins the team only days after he was sent down following Zavala’s acquisition.
Coming up
Tuesday: At New York, 4:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Ryne Nelson (7-7, 5.30) vs. Mets RHP Jose Butto (0-2, 3.86).
Wednesday: At New York, 4:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (15-7, 3.31) vs. Mets TBA.
Thursday: At New York, 1:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Merrill Kelly (11-6, 3.16) vs. Mets RHP Kodai Senga (10-7, 3.07).
About the Mets
Along with the Padres, Cardinals and Yankees, the Mets have an argument for the most disappointing team in baseball this season. Per Fangraphs, they started the season with a 77.1% chance of making the playoffs after 101-61 last year and spending nearly $500 million on free agents over the off-season. But by the trade deadline, they were committed sellers, including in the deal that sent Tommy Pham to Arizona. They rank just 20th in baseball in runs scored and 18th in OPS. Their rotation ERA ranks 16th and their bullpen ERA ranks 23rd. The disappointments are wide-ranging, from 2B Jeff McNeil (.691 OPS) and OF Starling Marte (.625 OPS) on the offensive side to the since-traded SP Max Scherzer (4.01 ERA) on the pitching side. The most encouraging piece for New York this season has been SP Kodai Senda, who has a 3.07 ERA in 149 1/3 innings after signing a five-year, $75 million deal out of the Japanese league in the off-season.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'Focused' Tommy Pham delivers again as Diamondbacks open series with win over Mets
