When Zac Gallen is on the Mound Torey Lovullo Feels Good

The Diamondbacks and Dodgers resume their National League Division series matchup with game two taking place at Dodger Stadium tonight. The game will be broadcast on TBS and first pitch is 6:07 P.M.

The D-backs took Game 1 by a score of 11-2, knocking Clayton Kershaw out of the box in the top of the first inning after getting to him for six runs with just one out recorded. Merrill Kelly cruised through 6.1 scoreless innings, exorcising some demons against the Dodgers while picking up his first win in 17 starts against L.A.

Torey Lovullo has to feel good with Zac Gallen on the mound for Game 2. Speaking yesterday Lovullo said "He consistently goes out there, executes the game plan at a very high level and competes". Gallen finished the season with a 17-9 record and a 3.47 ERA and got the win in the clincher of the Wild Card series against Milwaukee, throwing six innings and giving up just two runs on five hits.

His teammates are probably feeling pretty good about it to. "I think they know that Zac is starting for us. I think everybody feels good about it. And I don't care what anybody says -- and I'll go back all the way when I was a player -- I knew who was pitching that day or the next day. I knew who was pitching for us, against us."

Lovullo was careful not to sound overconfident however, lest his comments be taken for bulletin board material. "Zac Gallen is one of the best pitchers in the league. But the Dodgers are a very good baseball team. And we're aware of it. We can't expect to just walk out on this field because Zac Gallen is starting and win the baseball game. We know that."

Gallen has a somewhat better track record against the Dodgers than Kelly, but pitching in Dodger Stadium has not gone well for him in 2023. In total for his career Gallen has made 11 starts against L.A. and has a 1-4 record and a 3.48 ERA in 65 innings pitched. All four of those losses have come in Dodger Stadium however, including two this year.

Gallen faced the Dodgers on Opening Day and lasted just 4.2 innings giving up five runs on six hits and three walks while striking out seven. Then on August 28th he had another very rough start here, giving up six runs on nine hits, including four homers in 5.1 innings. That second loss was especially difficult. Gallen had given up three runs in the first inning, but settled down to put up zeroes for the next four innings while his team battled back to take a 4-3 lead. Back-to-back homers by Jason Heyward and Josh Outman put the Dodgers up 6-4 on their way to a 7-4 victory.

Gallen has also had success in this ballpark however. On September 22nd, 2022 he threw one of the best games of his career, striking out 13 across eight innings while giving up just one run on three hits and no walks. He also threw seven innings of one hit shutout baseball in Dodger Stadium in 2020, but that was the Covid Pandemic season without any fans in the stands. That will not be the case tonight where it's expected that there will be over 50,000 in attendance looking for revenge for Saturday night's drubbing.

Below is Gallen's head to head track record against the projected Dodgers lineup and bench. Perhaps counter intuitively he's done a good job in his career at limiting damage from left hand batters Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy. But right hand batters Will Smith and Mookie Betts have given Gallen more trouble.

The Dodgers will be looking to come out hot and jump on Gallen, who typically tries to throw strikes early. It doesn't always happen that way for him though. In his Wild Card series start against Milwaukee he had to throw over 30 pitches to get out of the first inning. He settled down to go six innings however and his manager relished in retelling the story once again of how Gallen reacted to the situation after the rocky first.

"I know I told you guys, it's a real story, he walked by me in frustration and said, I'm going seven for you today. I said, okay, show me, go ahead and do it. And he just about did."

The stars have aligned just right for the Diamondbacks so far in this postseason. They have a chance to take a commanding 2-0 series lead if Gallen can post an outing like his one from last September and the bats stay hot. No matter how big an underdog they might be against the Dodgers, they are playing with a chip on their shoulder and have made a statement that they're a team to be reckoned with this year.