The D-backs spent Sunday night in a Los Angeles hotel, no big deal normally for a group accustomed to spending at least 81 nights on the road each year. But this year, there are some key differences.

For instance, rather than go out to a restaurant for their food, the team now has a large room at the hotel where they can go to get their meals and follow the COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

“Space at the hotel has been fantastic, food has been even better,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “It’s just an environment to where it’s going to limit the high-risk behaviors.”

The D-backs are in the midst of a long road trip. It started with a flight to Los Angeles on Sunday and it will continue Tuesday when they head to Anaheim Stadium for a workout. Then, they will bus to San Diego, where they will work out Wednesday and Thursday before opening their season against the Padres on Friday at Petco Park.

Starters getting work in
Opening Day starter Madison Bumgarner and Saturday’s scheduled starter Robbie Ray stayed behind in Phoenix so they could face hitters from the team’s 60-man player pool each of the past two days at Chase Field.

Bumgarner threw 78 pitches over a simulated five innings Sunday and Ray threw 97 over seven innings.

“Felt fantastic,” Lovullo said of Bumgarner. “Just getting a little bit closer, I think he was pretty encouraged by the outing. Robbie threw the ball extremely well, 97 pitches, [seven innings], once again, seems he has fought hard to be this ready.”

Stay tuned
Lovullo named Archie Bradley as the team’s closer, but he is less forthcoming about his setup roles. Right-handers Kevin Ginkel, Junior Guerra and Héctor Rondón along with lefty Andrew Chafin all figure to pitch late in games.

Rather than say who will pitch the seventh or eighth innings, Lovullo said he’s going to base it on nightly matchups.

“I’m going to stay fairly neutral on that,” Lovullo said.

Up next
The D-backs will head to Anaheim on Tuesday where they will play a simulated game, with one of their starters -- likely Zac Gallen -- getting his pitch count up.

While Gallen is simulating the end of an inning and sitting in the dugout, the rest of the team will go through team fundamentals like bunt plays.