Why Torey Lovullo Didn't Let Eduardo Rodriguez Finish Complete Game

Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo knew he would be the most unpopular man in the building at Chase Field — and perhaps the state of Arizona — as he walked out to the mound with one out in the ninth inning to remove his starting pitcher.

Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, pitching his deepest-ever outing, was pulled from Sunday's 5-1 win against the New York Mets with just two outs to go for his first career complete game.

But after a bloop single, and sitting at 100 pitches on the day, he would have to settle for a still-impressive 8.1 innings of one-run baseball and his fourth win of the 2026 season. The left-hander's excellent 2026 season continues.

D-backs fans booed loudly as Rodriguez was removed, a distinct turnaround from the cheers than rang out as he came back out for the final inning a few minutes prior.

Lovullo said he already needed to be talked into giving Rodriguez the ninth, in the first place. Lovullo said Rodriguez told his manager, "Give me 10 more pitches. I'll get out of this, and I want to throw a complete game."

So, why did Lovullo pull his starter? The manager explained the reasoning in his postgame press conference.

Why Torey Lovullo pulled Eduardo Rodriguez in the ninth inning

The pull did not affect the outcome of the game, nor Rodriguez's earned run total (one). Righty reliever Juan Morillo worked around a walk to get the final two outs of the game. Lovullo said he did not want to see Rodriguez's pitch count climb too high.

"Unfortunately, after he gave up that hit,I didn't want him to throw 110 pitches," Lovullo said (via the D-backs.TV postgame broadcast). "I don't want him to throw 105 pitches. I want to preserve these guys. I want to make sure that they're good today, tomorrow ,and for the rest of the year. ... I just felt like it was time to maneuver into the bullpen."

"I didn't know he'd never thrown a complete game. I've got to make tough decisions, and I want to win baseball games. That's the bottom line. I'm not going to say he couldn't have got three outs before we won this game, but I just think, what would the cost have been on him to get it done? And I can't play that game," the manager said.

"As bad as I want him to stay in there, I can't play that game and let it get out of control."

Since Rodriguez had asked for 10 more pitches, and since the left-hander did not manage to finish the game with those 10 pitches, he did not fight Lovullo to stay in the game.

"He said something to me, I think it was along the lines of, 'I'm not going to fight you, because I told you 10 pitches... I didn't do what I said, but I appreciate you doing what you did to send me back out here,'" Lovullo revealed.

While the pitch count, in and of itself, might not have been the highest, Lovullo pointed to the "up-downs" as the more fatigue-inducing element. Up-downs, or the act of cooling off between two innings and getting back on the mound, is a riskier factor in arm fatigue than simply throwing a high total.

Since Rodriguez had never gone into the ninth inning in his career, and was on a career-high of up-downs, Lovullo decided it was not worth the risk, in case the inning began to spiral. It's worth noting Rodriguez missed time in both 2024 and 2025 with shoulder issues.

"I don't want E-Rod throwing 88 MPH in two starts because he's still fatigued from [Sunday's] start," Lovullo said. "I want him going out there and just powering through it at 92."

"I'm going to ride with him. I'm going to protect him. ... I'm not going to blink when I need to make those decisions to preserve these guys. I'm not going to blink."

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