Game #35 Preview: Gallen Looks to Squish the Fish

The Diamondbacks (19-15) look to get off to another solid start against a sub-.500 team at home, as they face the Miami Marlins (17-18). When the two teams matched up earlier in April, the Marlins won the first two games to take the series.

Starting Pitcher Matchup

RHP Zac Gallen (7 GS, 4-1, 2.53 ERA, 42.2 IP, 57 K, 5 BB, 0.84 WHIP)

The 2023 season has seen Gallen become of one the best pitchers in baseball. He leads all starting pitchers in Wins Above Replacement on Fangraphs at 2.0, much in part to his league-leading strikeout to walk ratio of 11.40. Gallen made his major league debut with the Marlins in 2019 before getting traded to the D-backs for then-prospect Jazz Chisholm Jr. In two starts against the Marlins, he is 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA and holding Chisholm to a career 0-for-6 with three strikeouts.

Gallen controls the zone with a 4-seam fastball that averages 94 MPH but plays up due to a high spin rate and great sequencing with his secondary pitches. His knuckle curve is his best secondary offering, generating swings and misses on 47.0% of the swings against the pitch. When he has a good feel for it, he can generate big strikeout totals. While the fastball and curveball attack the strike zone vertically, his cutter and changeup stretch it horizontally.

LHP Braxton Garrett (6 G, 5 GS, 1-1, 5.81 ERA, 26.1 IP, 22 K, 5 BB, 1.67 WHIP)

Braxton Garrett has been a better pitcher than his 5.81 ERA suggests. 11 of the 17 runs he allowed on the season came in a disaster start against the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday. In his other five appearances, four starts, he went 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA and a 19/3 strikeout to walk ratio. Against the D-backs on April 15th, he allowed just one run in 5.2 innings on five hits, one walk, and three strikeouts.

Garrett mixes in the full arsenal of pitches, mostly attacking with sinker, slider, four-seamer, and a curveball. His four-seam and sinker average just under 90 MPH this season. The key will be for the D-backs to force him up in the zone and not miss on the mistakes they do get. Garrett has had trouble avoiding loud contact, with a hard-hit (batted ball exit velocity of at least 95 MPH) rate of 48.4% and a barrel rate of 9.7% of the balls put into play. He does a good job of minimizing the impact of that contact by avoiding free passes, so the D-backs will have to earn their opportunities.

Lineups

Notes

The D-backs have the right hitters hot entering the series, with Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and Christian Walker each producing an OPS over 1.000 in the past seven days. It also comes as no surprise that the team has scored 35 runs over five games in that stretch.

Outfielder Dominic Fletcher has opened his career with a six-game hitting streak, the second longest in franchise history. The longest came from David Peralta, who recorded a hit in his first seven career games in the 2014 season.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. officially became a U.S. citizen today. While he's not in the starting lineup, he is available to hit off the bench. In a nice bit of timing this happened with his older brother, Yuli, visiting Chase Field.

Carroll gets his first start in the second spot in the order. Against left-handed pitchers, he's hitting .379 with a .917 OPS in 30 plate appearances. Carroll also enters this game on a 12-game hitting streak, in which he is batting .421 with a 1.206 OPS.