Ketel Marte says he 'failed' Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo with absence; Lovullo declines to guarantee Marte won't go AWOL again

For the first time since his unexplained absence for a game against the Boston Red Sox , Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte spoke about the situation with reporters on Monday.

Through an interpreter, he said that "I failed" manager Torey Lovullo. But he declined to shed much light on the absence that largely remains a mystery.

Marte addressed reporters prior to his team's home game against the Philadelphia Phillies. He was activated from the injured list and is back in the lineup for the first time since his Aug. 17 no-show for the game in Boston made headlines.

Marte spoke with reporters prior to addressing his teammates, with whom he had yet to speak since his mysterious absence.

"It's a moment of frustration," Marte said through an interpreter when asked what kept him from showing up to Fenway Park on Aug. 17. "I'm the type of person that when something's going on in my life, I don't like to talk about it. So that's kind of what was going on."

His unexpected absence that night left Lovullo struggling to explain what had happened.

"I'm sure in time we'll start to uncover and unravel some information," Lovullo told reporters that night. "But I knew that there was something going on today … I still believed he was going to be here. He just didn't show up."

The Diamondbacks placed Marte on the restricted list that night. Following an MRI, he was placed on the injured list due to knee inflammation.

On Monday, Marte acknowledged that he let Lovullo down and said his frustration had nothing to do with his manager.

"I get along really well with Torey," Marte said. "In that instance, I failed him by not showing up. That morning, I woke up, my body was in pain. I couldn't react. No one made the decision for me. I'm the one who made the decision to not show up."

Marte told reporters that he was feeling "very well" physically and mentally as of Monday and that he looked forward to addressing his teammates.

"I'm gonna stand in front of my teammates like a man," he said. "I don't want any of my teammates to go through what I went through that morning."

Beyond that, Marte did little to expound on what prompted his absence.

Marte acknowledges casino trip, declines to address fans

Marte acknowledged that he was at a casino in Arizona during a Diamondbacks home game while on the injured list. Multiple social media posts showed Marte gambling at the casino during Arizona's game against the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 21.

"I've been injured before," he said of the casino trip. "Those are things that I do in my personal time."

When asked if he had a message for Diamondbacks fans, he shook his head no.

Lovullo has repeatedly been in Marte's corner during this ordeal, while acknowledging that this isn't the first time Marte has gone AWOL.

"It's not the first time," Lovullo confirmed Monday to reporters. "He's definitely a retreater. When things are on his mind, some things I cause when I crash down on him. I know you guys want me to sometimes bury him and make him feel even worse than he already does.

"He doesn't respond to that. But I feel like it's my job to do that sometimes. When I do it, he retreats. When something doesn't go well, he retreats. So this is not the first time."

One of the previous occasions in which Marte "retreated" was last season. He missed a midseason series against the St. Louis Cardinals to fly home to the Dominican Republic. He said afterward that he felt "frustrated" and was "in a bad spot" after his Arizona home got burglarized during the MLB All-Star break.

His absence reportedly caused a rift with his teammates and coaches as the All-Star second baseman was absent from a series in the midst of a playoff race. How his latest absence has impacted the Arizona clubhouse is unclear.

Lovullo: Report of 2023 Yankees absence 'pretty accurate'

Lovullo confirmed a recent report from Arizona Sports' John Gambadoro that Marte also no-showed for a game against the New York Yankees in 2023.

Per that report, Marte believed the game at Yankee Stadium would be postponed due to weather and stayed at the hotel instead of going to the ballpark. The game was played without Marte, and the Diamondbacks were in the midst of a playoff race.

"That article is pretty accurate," Lovullo said Monday.

Lovullo offers no guarantees about Marte moving forward

When asked, Lovullo declined to offer a guarantee that Marte won't go AWOL again.

"I don't," Lovullo said when asked if he has any guarantees. "The other times that it happened, I asked for it to never happen again. It's something that's a work in progress. I think he told you, he's human. He's not perfect. …

"This is as much progress as I've seen him make. He's communicating with you guys and with me as well. We talked about personality traits and different things like that, where normally he doesn't want to even talk about personality traits. 'Fastball, middle, homer, that's all I want to think about, OK?'"

Lovullo clarified that Marte told his manager that he won't go missing again.

"I want to believe what he says to me," Lovullo continued.

The Diamondbacks are in the midst of a playoff race. They entered Monday at 73-65, with a half-game lead over the San Diego Padres for the final wild-card spot in the National League.

Marte is a three-time All-Star who won NLCS MVP when the Diamondbacks made a surprise run to the World Series as the No. 6 seed in 2023. He's a career .278/.348/470 hitter and is in the midst of his fourth consecutive season with 20-plus home runs.

He has been the anchor of Arizona's lineup for years — when he shows up. The Diamondbacks are counting on him to be there in the midst of another playoff race. How the fans and his teammates receive him for the stretch run is yet to be seen.