Zac Gallen Goes for 7th Win Against Pirates

The Diamondbacks (25-19) resume their nine game road trip in Pittsburgh this evening after an off day Thursday. They'll face a Pirates team that is 23-20 and in the second place in NL Wild Card, 1.5 games behind the D-backs. Game time is 3:35 P.M. MST/6:35 EST.

Yesterday Inside the Diamondbacks reported about the upside down wild card race in the National league and how these two teams compare. Be sure to check out that article for a season long view of the two teams so far.

Pitching Matchup

It's become something of a habit for Zac Gallen to say that he did not feel great after an excellent outing. Following a 28-inning scoreless streak earlier in the season Gallen finally let up a few runs on May 2nd in Texas. He bounced back in his last two starts to throw 14.2 innings, allowing just three runs as he picked up victories against the Marlins and the Giants. For the season Gallen has allowed just two homers, and walked only eight batters while striking out 70. That has resulted in the lowest FIP, (Fielding independent pitching) in MLB. Yes, the pitcher with the 6-1 record and 2.35 ERA may have been a bit unlucky this season.

Johan Oviedo was traded to the Pirates at last year as part of the deadline deal that sent Jose Quintana to the Cardinals. The 25-year-old Venezuelan native had a rough three start stretch between April 25th-May 6th that saw his ERA rise from 2.22 to 5.59. But he bounced back with five innings of one run ball in a no decision against the Orioles in his last start. He did walk a season-high five batters however.

Oviedo averages 96 MPH on his four seam fastball, but throws his slider more than any pitch, nearly 42% of the time. Against left-hand batters he uses his curveball a lot too, and will mix in the occasional change up. He has a large split this year, with a .679 OPS vs. right-hand batters and .852 against left-hand batters.

Lineups

There's not much track record of success for the current Pirates hitters against Zac Gallen, although Jack Suwinski has two doubles in three trips to plate against the D-backs ace. The left-handed hitting Suwinski is tied with Andrew McCutchen for the team lead in homers with seven.

Ketel Marte has an 18 game on base streak, and had six base hits, all singles, in the Oakland series. Since April 17th, 27 games, he's batting .311/.373/.505, .878 OPS, including two doubles, three triples, and four homers.

Bullpen

The Pirates have an elite closer, David Bednar, who has a 0.56 ERA and 0.86 FIP in 16 innings, along with nine saves. They've also gotten good work from Dauri Moreta, (2.25 ERA), Jose Hernandez (3.12), Colin Holderman (2.81) and mid-April call ups Yohan Ramirez, 1.46, and Robert Stephenson, (1.64). In total they come into this game with a 3.49 bullpen ERA, the lowest in the National League and sixth lowest in MLB.

The Diamondbacks have a 4.43 bullpen ERA, which is 11th in the NL, 22nd in MLB. The bullpen has been taxed with a heavy workload of late. The off day yesterday should help them to catch up somewhat, but they could use another seven innings from Zac Gallen to get fully caught up. Below is their workload chart showing pitches thrown per game since May 11th and the projected reliever availability for tonight. If possible, pitchers Torey Lovullo may want to avoid having to use any of the pitchers marked in Yellow.