Zac Gallen Had Hilarious Reaction to Joining Elite D-backs Company

The Arizona Diamondbacks' righty cemented himself in the franchise history books.

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen (23) prepares to face the Texas Rangers in the first inning at Chase Field on Sept. 3, 2025. | Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

On Monday night, in a crucial win over the San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks' right-hander Zac Gallen etched his named into the history books.

With a first-inning strikeout of Giants shortstop Willy Adames, Gallen became just the third Diamondbacks pitcher to reach 1,000 strikeouts with Arizona.

The other two? Franchise legends Randy Johnson and Brandon Webb.

Arizona Diamondbacks' Zac Gallen Had Amusing Reaction to Milestone

When manager Torey Lovullo first congratulated Gallen on his milestone following the first inning, the right-hander had no idea what was going on (H/T Arizona Sports 98.7's Alex Weiner on X/Twitter).

"Torey congratulated me after the first inning, and I was like 'what are you talking about?'" Gallen said, with a laugh. "Once the game starts, you're not really thinking about that."

Once it set in, Gallen said it was "really cool" to join two of Arizona's most elite franchise arms.

"For me, when I got here seven or so years ago, those guys that I'm in that category with are the guys you're trying to pitch like and have success like. So for me to be in their company is pretty humbling," Gallen said.

"I joked, it's probably going to be tough to catch the guy in first place (Johnson with 2,077). I'm going to have to play another 20 more years. But still to be in that conversation with them is really cool," Gallen said.

It hasn't been much of an ace-like season for Gallen, who's pitched to a career-worst 4.73 ERA over 31 starts.

But he's strung together some dominant success since the Trade Deadline, allowing more than three earned runs in a start only once since August began.

Gallen continued that excellence on Monday, throwing a dominant six-inning, one-run start against San Francisco.

"Congrats to Zac," Lovullo said postgame. "He joins really elite D-backs company with Webby and RJ with his thousandth strikeout. That's amazing.

"Zac is in a really good spot right now and he's been working hard to make this happen and he carried us and like I said, gave us a chance to give us our footing to be able to break [Monday's] game open."

Teammate Geraldo Perdomo had an unsurprising message about his pitcher, speaking to D-backs.TV's Jody Jackson after the game

"That's how he is, one of the best aces in the game," Perdomo said. "I feel glad and great for him because he's been really [good] since the All-Star Break."