Zac Gallen Outduels Sandy Alcantara in Diamondbacks Win
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Today's much anticipated pitching duel went decidedly in Zac Gallen's favor as the Diamondbacks defeated Sandy Alcantara and the Miami Marlins 5-0.
Gallen was masterful, going 6 2/3 innings, allowing just two hits and striking out seven without walking a batter. He was perfect through the first four innings. The Marlins got their first hit in the 5th inning and that was followed by a hit batter, but a line out and strikeout ended the threat. After giving up a one out double in the 6th inning he followed that with a strikeout looking against his final batter. Torey Lovullo pulled him 97 pitches, (61 for strikes). Kevin Ginkel got a strikeout to strand the runner and preserve Gallen's scoreless streak at 14.2 innings pitched. Last year Gallen threw a franchise record 44 1/3 scoreless innings.
Gallen worked ahead most of the afternoon, throwing 16 of 23 first pitch strikes. In his last outing against the Brewers, Gallen made heavy use of the curveball, throwing a career high 40. This game he was aggressive with the fastball, throwing 49 of them with excellent command. His velocity was up about 1 MPH against his season average. This time around Gallen turned to his cutter as the primary secondary pitch, throwing 20 of them, but also mixed in some curveballs and changeups.
After two lackluster nights at the plate in the first two games of the series, the offense was up to the difficult task of getting untracked against the reigning Cy Young Award winner Alcantara. Pavin Smith hit a two-out double in the first but was stranded when Christian Walker struck out. A line drive bullet to left off the bat of Corbin Carroll leading off the second inning led to a run. He moved up to third on a flyout by Jake McCarthy and then Alek Thomas singled him home with two outs.
Alcantara settled down for the next three innings however allowing just a lone base hit from the 3rd to the 5th, while racking up strikeouts. The D-backs broke open a 1-0 ball game in the top of the 6th. As has often been the case it started with hustle and good fundamental baseball.
Josh Rojas hit a sharp ground ball down to first that was tackled by Garrett Cooper. With Rojas busting it out of the box, Alcantara could find neither the ball or the bag as he bobbled the flip and let it get by him. A heads-up Rojas bolted for second base getting in safely. Geraldo Perdomo bunted him over to third and the Smith delivered his second hit of the of the game, a line drive RBI single to right. Walker then doubled into the gap and Smith came all the way around to score putting the D-backs up 3-0.
The scoring did not stop there however, as Carroll launched his fourth home run of the year to deep center field, giving the Dbacks a 5-0 lead. Carroll scored two runs and drove in two and struck out in his other two at bats. He's yet to draw a walk this season, but if he keeps barreling balls up like this until the walks start to come he'll be just fine.
Ginkel and Kyle Nelson closed it out with scoreless 8th and 9th innings. The Marlins threatened in the ninth, putting two runners on, but the game ended on a nifty 5-4-3 double started by the suddenly defensively proficient Rojas. The 8th inning also included a 6-4-3 double play.
It was an excellent overall win for the team with great starting pitching, timely hitting, heads up base running and perfect defense.
The Diamondbacks improve to 9-7 and are guaranteed to at least board the plane for St. Louis tied for first place. They began the day with the same record as the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are just getting underway against the Cubs in L.A.
Merrill Kelly will face Jack Flaherty and the Cardinal tomorrow at 4:45 P.M. MST to open a three-game series in St. Louis.
