Homers Sink Gallen in Diamondbacks Loss to Angels

Zac Gallen motioned with his glove for catcher Carson Kelly to come out to the mound. The batter at the plate Mickey Moniak was behind in the count 1-2 with two out and two-runners on in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Gallen just wanted to make sure he and Kelly were on the same page. They settled on a fastball, which Gallen missed away with. The next pitch was a curveball down in the lower half of the zone, but not low enough, and Moniak lifted it to straight away center for a three run homer, giving the Angels a 4-2 lead. That turned out to be decisive moment in a 5-2 loss for the D-backs.

Gallen said afterwards "We just didn't execute really. We were on the right page. I think the pitch selection was fine, just pitch location was off. I think he does a lot of damage in the zone." It was Moniak's 9th homer of the year in just 114 at bats.

Just before the Moniak homer Carson Kelly hit a two-run shot to left in the top of the second that briefly gave Gallen a 2-1 lead. Gallen had earlier made a made a mistake to Mike Trout in the bottom of the first inning, throwing him a cutter in the lower half of the zone after he had just blown a 94 MPH heater by the future Hall of Famer. Trout blasted that pitch 436 feet to left center for a solo homer. The two long balls accounted for all the offense the Angels generated off Gallen today.

Gallen retired 14 batters in a row after the Moniak homer, and tied a season high with 12 strikeouts, giving his offense ample opportunity to get back in the game. The lineup was not able to get anything else going against Angels starter Reid Detmers, who went six strong innings giving up just three hits, walking two and striking out nine. Three Angels relievers pitched scoreless innings to close out the game.

Shohei Ohtani gave the fans what they came for, blasting a hanging slider from Kyle Nelson in the 8th inning 454 feet into the right field bleachers to close out the scoring. It was his 31st homer of the year. Detmers record improved to 2-5, and Gallen's fell to 10-3. Carlos Estevez picked up his 21st save and has not blown a save yet this year.

It was a bitter sweet day for Gallen, who was selected to his first All Star game, earlier in the afternoon, along with Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

"It's an honor, I heard this morning, but I had a job to do today. I'll probably able to enjoy it a little bit after this. It's bitter sweet, we still lost."

It really wasn't much of a surprise for Gallen that he would make the all star team. He's been one of the best starters in baseball all year and dating back to last year's all star break. Over the last calendar year since July 1, 2022 Gallen is 18-4 with a 2.50 ERA and 6.5 Fangraphs WAR. That's the most wins and WAR and second best ERA among MLB starters over the last 12 months.

"I had people telling me all week that they felt like I should make it and that if I didn't they would riot....that's an exaggeration but I felt like I had a pretty solid first half. It was a possibility. My thing was just try to keep pitching, try to win games, so I wasn't really trying to worry about it. And then this morning I think it was better than I just had a feeling that it was probably going to happen, so I could just focus and try to go out there make pitches"

The Diamondbacks remain three games up on the Dodgers and Giants in the NL West. The Dodgers lost today and the Giants play later tonight. The D-backs head back home and after a day off Monday start a three games series against the New York Mets at Chase Field Tuesday afternoon for the Fourth of July. Zach Davies will get the ball for Arizona and Kodai Senga will start for the Mets.