Diamondbacks' Wilmer Flores: In line for expanding role
Flores started against a right-hander and went 1-for-4 in Wednesday's 4-1 win over the Padres.
Flores has been a lineup regular against left-handed starters, but his hot hitting, coupled with the struggles of Jake Lamb, has prompted manager Torey Lovullo to re-think the deployment of Flores, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports. On Wednesday, the manager walked back comments he made last week about the infielder's ability to play an expanded role and then put him in the lineup in place of Lamb against San Diego right-hander Chris Paddack. "We'll see how that plays out over the next couple days," Lovullo said prior to Wednesday's series finale against the Padres, in which Flores started at second base and batted fifth. "I'm thinking about it for right now." Since returning from a foot injury July 19, Flores has hit .380/.424/.633 over 79 at-bats. During the same time frame, Lamb slashed .176/.290/.330 over 91 at-bats.
