Heels in MLB: Zac Gallen's Streak Comes To An End

Gallen set an MLB record by allowing three or fewer earned runs in each of the first 23 starts of his career.

Zac Gallen’s record-breaking streak came to an end on Labor Day. Gallen began his MLB career with 23 straight games allowing three or fewer earned runs, breaking the previous record of 21 games.

The streak came to an end September 7 in a 4-2 loss to San Francisco. Gallen pitched five scoreless innings before things fell apart in the sixth. He has done a superb job of working around sticky spots to mitigate damage throughout his young career, but in this instance, it was not meant to be.

The fateful inning began with the always inauspicious leadoff walk. The walk was followed by a single and another walk to load the bases with no outs. The Giants next hit back-to-back-to-back singles to score three runs, still with no outs and the bases loaded. The Diamondbacks made a pitching change, but Gallen was still responsible for all three runners on base. Relief pitcher Junior Guerra coaxed a double play out of Wilmer Flores and a fly ball from Brandon Crawford, but not before he issued a bases-loaded walk to Brandon Belt to give Giants their fourth run. And with that, Gallen’s streak was over.

After the record-setting start on August 28 (against those same Giants), Gallen picked up one more quality start to stretch his three-or-fewer earned runs streak to 23 games. The last game of the streak was undoubtedly one of the most impressive.

On September 2, Gallen took the hill in Los Angeles against the MLB-leading Dodgers, the only team with 30-plus wins and a winning percentage above .700.

Over the course of seven innings, Gallen surrendered only one hit, no runs, just two walks, and struck out seven. Unfortunately, his teammates didn’t provide much run support and once again Gallen wasn’t able to pick up a win.

The Diamondbacks have 17 more games so Gallen will likely have three more starts this season. Despite his won-loss record of just 1-1, Gallen has been one of the best pictures in the National League in this COVID-shortened season.

His next start should be against the Mariners at home on Saturday, September 12.

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