© Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY
D-Backs Turn the Tables on Yankees Behind Gallen's Terrific Start
The Diamondbacks shut out the Yankees 7-0 with six scoreless innings from Zac Gallen and perfect bullpen work.
As Christian Walker’s seventh inning home run disappeared into the night, so too did the Yankees chance of coming back against the Diamondbacks. His three-run blast turned a 3-0 lead into a commanding 6-0 lead, all but sealing the eventual 7-0 victory. It was a cathartic win after losing to the Yankees 5-2 the night before.
Zac Gallen pitched six shutout innings, striking out six batters while allowing three hits and three walks. Torey Lovullo started his postgame press conference by stating "This was all about Zac Gallen today......he gave us a chance to get our footing. Behind him, we played really good defense. It's no secret when you pitch well, pick up the baseball, get some timely hitting, we're going to put ourselves in a position to win a baseball game."
It didn’t look like Gallen would end up with such a stellar pitching line at the outset. He began the game by walking leadoff hitter Gleyber Torres. He got Juan Soto to bounce into a 4-6-3 double play but then walked Aaron Judge on four pitches. He got Anthony Rizzo to ground out to second to end the frame.
The D-backs scored three runs in the bottom of the first off of Yankee starter Nestor Cortes Jr. Ketel Marte led off with a double, and four singles followed, including RBI base hits from Blaze Alexander, Eugenio Suarez, and Gabriel Moreno. It could have been more, but a push bunt by Jorge Barrosa backfired. Suarez was caught in a rundown and then Barrosa got caught off first base for a 3-2-5-1 double play.
That was all the support Gallen needed however. The Yankees threatened in the second with a couple of two-out singles but Gallen struck out catcher Jose Trevino to end the inning. From there Gallen allowed just one more walk in the 5th and a single in the 6th. His outing was punctuated by his own excellent defensive play. With Anthony Rizzo at the plate battling, Gallen fielded a slow tapper towards the third base line, scooped up the ball and fired to Christian Walker to nab Rizzo. Walker said "It was a crazy athletic play to get there and plant and still put a throw on the money. "
Gallen’s fastball velocity was about half a tick better than his last outing but still down from last year, by about 1.4 MPH. While he induced just four whiffs, he caught Yankee hitters looking in four of his six strikeouts. He got 20 called strikes including 12 with the fastball and four with the slider as he started locking up hitters. The six shutout innings were exactly what the D-backs needed as the bullpen was heavily taxed in recent games.
Lovullo spoke to Gallen's toughness and preparedness. "I know there is an extremely tough competitor in there with everything that he does. There's a lot of intelligence. It's fun to watch him go full throttle every fifth day and watch those results happen."
Scott McGough, Ryan Thompson, and Bryce Jarvis were all equally impressive out of the pen as each reliever retired the side in order in their frame.
Ketel Marte had two hits and scored two runs. His eight runs scored in the team’s first six games are a franchise record.
Blaze Alexander had two hits and two walks, stole a base and scored two runs in addition to his first inning RBI. His walk in front of Walker's homer was a mature at bat. Said Lovullo "Marte and Blaze were catalysts today, they each got two hits and were on base. I think Blaze checking off a couple of nasty tough pitches off a pitcher we didn't really know a lot about kind of set the table for three and four. It was a quality at bat.
The D-backs are now 4-2, one game back of the 6-2 Dodgers in the NL West. Their +22 run differential is the best in MLB. The rubber match of this three-game series is Wednesday afternoon, 12:40 PM first pitch. Merrill Kelly will face off against Carlos Rodon.
