The Diamondbacks Look to Get Back to Their Winning Ways Monday Night

The D-backs need a big start from their Ace Zac Gallen in order to win Monday night in Colorado.

The Arizona Diamondbacks (4-6) need to wash that miserable Atlanta Braves series out from their memory and refocus on getting some much-needed wins this series against the Colorado Rockies (2-8). This is quite possible their single easily winnable series for all of April and potentially all of May. Game time is at 5:40 PM at Coors Field in Colorado.

It's Arizona's fourth road game of the season and another chance to get that first road victory. Plus, Manager Torey Lovullo is still seeking his 500th managerial victory. Tonight's a chance to end the rough four-game losing streak and climb back to one within .500. Meanwhile, Colorado is coming off losing two of their three games against the Tampa Bay Rays.

The starting pitching matchup is a repeat from Opening Day. Zac Gallen will go for the D-backs while Kyle Freeland is starting for Colorado. The Milkman is the D-backs stopper. When the team has struggled in the past, he has stopped the bleeding and gotten them back in the win column.

Gallen has been pitching like the D-backs ace so far this season. In his Opening Day start against the Rockies, he pitched five innings and gave up three hits, one run, two walks, and three strikeouts. On April 2nd, he pitched far better against the vaunted New York Yankees, getting the D-backs only win in that series. Over six innings, he overcame a tough start, to allow no runs on three hits, three walks, and six strikeouts. His ERA over the 12 innings is a sparkling 1.80.

In 14 career starts against the Rockies, he is 7-1 with a 2.41 ERA over 82 innings with 24 walks and 95 strikeouts. He has given up just 70 hits. Those numbers match up well with his starts at Coors Field over the years. Over six career starts there, he's 2-0 with an amazing 2.43 ERA over 37 innings with just five walks and 40 strikeouts. Impressively, he's given up just 10 runs. The D-backs will need more of this tonight.

Meanwhile, Kyle Freeland is going to attempt for better results than his last start against the D-backs. On Opening Day, he was rung up for 10 runs in 2.1 innings with 10 hits given up, a walk, and two strikeouts. His ERA at that point was 38.57. His second start was against the Cubs and it wasn't much better. He lasted 3.1 innings but gave up nine hits, seven runs, three walks, and two strikeouts. Somehow, his ERA went down to 27.00. On the season, he's 0-2 and has given up three homers in just 5.2 innings.

Historically, Freeland has struggled against the D-backs. In 21 career starts and 111.2 innings, Freeland has a 6.04 ERA and is 4-9. He's given up 129 hits, 77 runs, 20 homers, 40 walks, and just 74 strikeouts. The D-backs will strive to grow that ERA even higher in a true must-win game for them.

Starting Lineups

The D-backs and Rockies lineups for April 8th, 2024

Jake Oliver

The D-backs have a different lineup than they did when they started the season. With Geraldo Perdomo on the injured list, Kevin Newman draws the start at shortstop. He's able to hit left-handed pitching in his career and is known as a solid defensive shortstop. This allows Blaze Alexander to start at DH and face the lefty as Lovullo opts for as much offense as possible. Randal Grichuk, another known lefty masher, starts at right field as Jake McCarthy gets a day off. This will be Grichuk's first start in the outfield as a member of the D-backs. For the Rockies, this is their normal lineup with a few switches in the batting order.

Today's Matchups to Watch

Ketel Marte has 52 plate appearances against Kyle Freeland. In those at-bats, he's hitting .378/.462/.733 with three homers and six RBI. He will look to stay hot. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. also has Freeland's number over his 11 plate appearances. He's hitting .444/.545/.889 with a homer and three RBI. Christian Walker has a homer and seven RBI over his 33 plate appearances against Freeland and has a .944 OPS against him. Corbin Carroll has a homer and two RBI in six plate appearances him.

Ryan McMahon has five RBI and is hitting .242 with a .692 OPS against Gallen. Meanwhile, Kris Bryant has a home run and two RBI in 14 at-bats with a .214 batting average against Gallen. Charlie Blackmon is the man to get out for Gallen as he is hitting .286 with a .713 OPS against Gallen in 35 at-bats.