Zac Gallen Has Opportunity to Reset Season Vs Yankees

Fresh off yet another thrilling win thanks to Eugenio Suarez's grand slam in the eighth inning against the New York Yankees, the Arizona Diamondbacks are set to play game two against them. First pitch is at 4:05 p.m. local Arizona time.

The D-backs enjoyed their time at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday as they hit two home runs, saw the bullpen shut down the Yankees, and did pretty much everything right. That's aside from a drastic error in the fourth inning by Josh Naylor that cost two runs. However, they answered back and came back to win.

Starting Pitchers

The story of the day is how Zac Gallen will rebound from his rough Opening Day outing in which he struck out four over four innings, but gave up four hits, four walks, and four runs en route to a 9.00 ERA. That included a period in which he threw 11 straight balls and struggled with his fastball command.

In total, he threw 83 pitches in that outing, but only landed 43 for strikes. Just 21 of the 43 fastballs were strikes. On the bright side, he can only go up and improve and land more pitches for strikes. Plus, he should be stretched out now for 90-95 pitches, which hopefully could let him get to six innings or so.

The onus is on Gallen to land his four-seam fastball repeatedly for strikes, especially on the edges or in the shadow zone to entice Yankee hitters to hit for weak contact or swing and miss. It'll set up his elite off-speed pitches such as his changeup or knuckle curve to get plenty of strikeouts and quick outs.

However, if he can't do this, it will set up a potentially rough day at the mound with how prolific the Yankees' offense has been this season. While Gallen has had plenty of success against them, this offense is on fire and will be waiting to ambush him.

Speaking of his experience against the Yankees, he'll be drawing on those game plans to get through this vaunted lineup, as he's 2-0 with an ERA of 0.00 in two starts against New York. He's struck out 14 batters over 12 innings, and he's given up just six hits.

Opposing Gallen and the D-backs is New York's Opening Day starter, Carlos Rodon. The left-hander is the team's current No.1 pitcher due to the injuries of Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil.

Rodon had an excellent first start against the Milwaukee Brewers. Over 5.1 innings, he allowed four hits, one run, two walks, and struck out seven. The only blemish was a Vinny Capra home run. Otherwise, it was a great start to the season.

On the other hand, Rodon has typically struggled when facing the Diamondbacks in his career. Over six career starts, he's 0-3 with an ERA of 5.18. He has struck out 42 batters in just 33 innings. He's given up 21 runs, five homers, and 12 walks.

However, in 2024, he had a relatively good start against Arizona. Over 5.1 innings, he gave up two runs, seven hits, two homers, two walks, and struck out only three in a no-decision.

Rodon primarily throws a slider, in which he threw it 31% of the time last year. His other pitches are a four-seam fastball, changeup, sinker, and curveball.

Lineups

The lineups are fairly standard for both teams. The Yankees' lineup is the same as Tuesday's. There is a big statistic that favors Gallen thus far in his career. Remember above how well he has done against them in his past?

Well, the Yankees' top six hitters in the lineup are a combined 2-for-52 against him in their careers. The only two with a hit are Cody Bellinger (1-20) and Anthony Volpe (1-5). The player Gallen was traded for in the Marlins-D-backs trade, Jazz Chisholm Jr., is also 0-12 while Aaron Judge is 0-4.

Gallen has his work cut out for him, certainly, especially with the introduction of the torpedo bats, but it bodes well that he's at least had substantial success against this lineup.

Meanwhile, the D-backs lineup is their usual lineup against a left-handed pitcher. Corbin Carroll will look to build off his home run from Tuesday, while Ketel Marte searches for his first home run of the season. Eugenio Suarez will try to keep the home runs coming, though even a regular base hit will be key too.

Included in the lineup is the man who can't stop hitting doubles with three hits and three doubles so far in the early season, Randal Grichuk. Grichuk apparently is a Yankees killer as he kicked off the explosive eighth inning Tuesday night with a lead-off pinch-hit double.

In his career against the Yankees, with 67 games and 251 plate appearances, Grichuk has hit .256/.303/.530/.833 with 18 homers, 35 RBI, 10 doubles, and 60 hits in total. Those 18 home runs are the second-most in his career against any one team.