D-backs Snap Losing Streak Behind Zac Gallen's Strong Outing
The stars were aligned both figuratively and literally tonight for the Diamondbacks to snap a nine-game losing streak. The team held a 25th anniversary celebration by inviting back 60 former players, including stars such as Randy Johnson, Luis Gonzalez, Brandon Webb, and many more. 41,351 fans packed the house to see their heroes past and present line out on the field in a pre-game ceremony hosted by radio legend Greg Schulte. Ace and Stopper Zac Gallen was on the mound, facing 43-year-old left-hand Rich Hill. To top it off, Jesse McGuire was brought in to play the National Anthem helping to get everyone's juices flowing. It all worked as the D-backs defeated the Padres 3-0.
Gallen threw six scoreless innings allowing just four hits, a walk, and striking out eight batters. He threw first-pitch strikes to 17 of 23 batters, but some of the Padres hitters did manage to put some long at-bats on him, forcing him out of the game after 98 pitches. He said he felt good early but was still not 100% where he wanted to be.
The D-backs jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on back-to-back doubles by Corbin Carroll and Tommy Pham. In the third inning, Pham's second double of the game with two outs was followed by Christian Walker's 24th homer of the year, an opposite-field homer into the right-field stands.
Buddy Kennedy was recalled from Triple-A Reno today. He flashed his improved defense making a great diving stop to get a force out at second with two runners on in the only inning the Padres really threatened to score against Gallen. He made a number of other solid plays throughout the game. Torey Lovullo praised his young third baseman's improvements.
"It was all working together today, the hands and the feet were working, there were some drop steps, he rode out some groundballs, he had the right angles, he had the right pace picking up the ground balls. The feet and hands were in the right place. We've been getting reports on the work that everybody's doing and that showed up today. It was a great day for Buddy, he helped us win a baseball game."
The bullpen was near perfect, as Miguel Castro, Kevin Ginkel, and Paul Sewald each recorded a scoreless inning to close out the final three innings. The only baserunner was Juan Soto, who singled to lead off the 9th, but Sewald locked it down from there to record his first save as a Diamondback and 21st of the year.
The D-backs improved to 58-59 with the win but remain three games out of the wild card. As written about earlier today, the D-backs probably need to win at least 28 of their remaining 45 games to have a solid chance of getting to the playoffs. They seem finally past the points of denial, anger, and bargaining and have accepted the damage that their 7-25 stretch did to their playoff chances. All they can do now is keep playing them one day at a time. Asked about this mindset after today's victory and whether the win might be the start of something, Gallen was refreshingly realistic.
"Yeah, I mean I hope obviously it's the start of something. We have a tough road ahead of us. We have to play some really good teams in the next two months. Obviously everyone in there hopes that it's the start of something good. We're going to have to earn it....Nobody is going to give it to us"
Lovullo echoed a similar tone, acknowledging the difficult situation they've put themselves in.
"We are not in control of our own destiny. We can slice the pie a thousand different ways. We can talk about what our record was. We're in the bed we made and we've got to live with that. "
The D-backs will go for the series win tomorrow afternoon at 1:10 P.M. Brandon Pfaadt will face Seth Lugo.
