Same approach for Chafin, even in a save situation

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The D-backs don’t have a designated closer, per se, as manager Torey Lovullo has made clear on numerous occasions, but you don’t have to be a math major to see that Andrew Chafin gets the majority of the save opportunities.

Chafin has four saves in five opportunities this year, one shy of his career high for a season, which came with the A’s in 2021.

Unlike in past years when he’s named a closer coming out of Spring Training, Lovullo has decided to finish games this year based on individual matchups. Other late-inning options Scott McGough and Miguel Castro have one save apiece and Drey Jameson picked up a three-inning save.

Otherwise, the saves have belonged to Chafin, who treats every outing, save chance or not, the same way.

“It's awesome, but it's really no different like pitch to pitch,” Chafin said of pitching in save situations. “It's no different coming in at seventh or eighth when you would get a hold or whatever. So I kind of approach it just the same -- go out there and throw my best pitch and hope for the best.”

The ability to pitch in a variety of roles along with his proven track record and veteran leadership were all factors in why the D-backs signed him to a one-year, $6.25 million free agent deal with a club option this past offseason.

“I think he doesn't have a back down mentality,” Lovullo said. “It's just part of his personality. He's just somebody that will give you everything that he's got and lay it out there on the line for you on any given day. He wants the ball as often as he can get it.”

Where pitching the ninth in a save situation can be pressure-packed and overwhelming, it seems to do the opposite for Chafin.

“I feel like the harder it is or harder the situation the easier it is for me to pitch,” he said. “I get a whole lot of extra energy from the adrenaline going, I guess. It’s more exciting, more fun. Generally, the crowd is a little bit louder that part of the game so that kind of helps cancel out my thoughts between my ears. And so it's like, you can’t hear so you just go out and do your job.”