Zac Gallen Aiming for More History Tonight

Zac Gallen will put his 28 consecutive scoreless innings streak on the line tonight against the Texas Rangers in Arlington. Game time is 5:05 P.M. MST. The Diamondbacks (16-13) dropped to a half game back of the Dodgers in the NL West due to the off day yesterday and L.A. picking up a win. Texas (17-11) are in first place in the NL West by a game and a half over the reigning World Series champion Astros.

Pitching Matchup

Gallen has 21 scoreless outings in 87 career starts. All but two of those have been six innings or longer. Dating back to July 22nd of last year, 11 of his last 21 starts have been scoreless outings. He's second in the NL in strikeouts with 51 while walking just five. The 10.2 K/BB ratio is the best in the league. As discussed after his last outing, the addition of an above average changeup has taken him to an even more dominant level than he was at last year during his franchise record 44.1 innings scoreless streak.

The Diamondbacks are very familiar with Jon Gray. He was with the Colorado Rockies for seven seasons before signing a four year, $56 million free agent contract with the Rangers prior to the 2022 season. Last year he made 24 starts going 7-7 with a 3.96 ERA. He's been struggling with walks this year, issuing 13 while striking out just 17 batters in his 25 innings. That's what has led to his FIP being two runs higher than his ERA.

Gray is still a fastball/slider pitcher, mixing in the occasional curveball and change up. The big right-hander is averaging 95 MPH with his fastball which is right in line with his career as he's averaged between 95-96 MPH every year except the Pandemic shortened 2020 season.

Lineups

Ketel Marte (11-29, .379) and Christian Walker (8-23, .348) have had the most success against Gray. Each has a homer against him. Corbin Carroll is still out of the D-backs lineup, day to day with a left knee contusion. He had an MRI in Texas yesterday but the team has not given any update as of this writing. Dominic Fletcher is getting his first start in right field. He entered the game on Sunday in Colorado as a defensive replacement and doubled in his first major league at bat later in the game.

The Rangers have scored the second most runs (178) in MLB, behind only the Tampa Bay Rays. They have the second highest team OPS+ (118) and lead all of MLB in batting average and OPS with runners in scoring position. Their slash line of .344/.394/.611 , 1.006 OPS in these situations may not be sustainable, but their offense has been firing on all cylinders and this is with Corey Seager out since April 11th with a grade two hamstring strain.

Adolis Garcia has eight home runs, and catcher Jonah Heim is hitting .303/.386/.592, with five homers. Outside of the injured Seager there isn't much track record for the Rangers against Gallen, as nobody in the lineup has more than three plate appearances against the D-backs ace. Robbie Grossman did hit a solo homer against him back in 2020 when he was with Oakland.

Bullpen

The Rangers only have four saves, three by lefty Will Smith , and one by Jose Leclerc, who has blown two saves. The Rangers have only played four one-run ballgames, going 1-3, but are 8-4 in "blowouts" (games decided by 5+ runs)

Andrew Chafin has become the de-facto closer for the Diamondbacks, getting most of the 9th inning save opportunities. Miguel Castro got the last non-Chafin save back on April 18th. Chafin has four saves, and has blown one, on April 24th against the Royals. He got the win in that game however by pitching a second scoreless inning after his team took back the lead.