Zac Gallen Throws Four Strong Innings, Struggles in Fifth

Christian Walker and Evan Longoria homer in 6-4 victory over Guardians

Zac Gallen had a mixed outing today as the Diamondbacks defeated the Guardians 6-4 in Cactus League action. His first four innings looked good in the box score. He allowed just one run in the third on a bloop double followed by a bloop single and had four K's through the first four frames.  His pitch count was manageable and it looked like he might even get into the sixth inning.  

But the fifth inning the wheels fell off.  A leadoff single was followed by a balk that perplexed Gallen, as he said he didn't do anything different in his move than he usually does, and he never got clarity on exactly why it was called.  The next play was a bunt base hit, and Gallen committed a throwing error, allowing a run to score. A base hit and then a double steal led to another run. After a walk, Christian Walker made a leaping grab of a line shot, saving a run. The next play should have ended the inning, as Walker fielded a ground ball and started what should have been a 3-6-1 double play. But according to Tom Candiotti on 98.7 F.M. radio, Gallen was late getting over to cover first and the runner was safe.  That was the end of Gallen's day, as he was reliever by Kevin Ginkel. Ginkel gave up a base hit, allowing one of Gallen's runners to score and closing out his line. 

Gallen's final line was 4.2 IP, 6H, 4ER, 2BB, 5K, 1HBP, 1BK, 1E. He got in five ups and threw 75 pitches.  His average velocity was down 2.7 MPH on his fastball and 2 MPH on his cutter however according to Statcast.  The double and single that led to a run in the third inning were of the bloop variety, hit just 72 and 71 MPH respectively.  But he allowed a lot of hard contact too, with eight batted balls between 98-107 MPH. Ironically, just one of those was a base hit. 

Gallen said he felt good about the outing through the fourth inning, but acknowledged things got "wacky" in the fifth, especially with the balk and stolen bases. He said that the ball felt good coming out of his hand, but he was having trouble with the cutter. Gallen threw a lot of cutters today (15) trying to get a feel for the pitch.

All his other pitches felt good. "Everything I worked on with the delivery this week showed up in those first four innings", he said.  Typical of a spring start, Gallen said he threw some pitches in certain counts that he might not normally throw during a regular season game. 

Walker hit a long home run in the second inning off Guardians starter Cal Quantrill, his first of spring, to open the scoring. Evan Longoria hit his first homer of spring the next inning as well, a two-run shot.  The D-backs had a 4-1 lead at that point, but after the Guardians tied it up at 4-4 in the fifth the score stayed that way until the bottom of the eighth when Ryan Bliss hit a two-run double to give the D-backs the 6-4 lead. 

Christian Walker did a thing todaypic.twitter.com/0YiC0C8FPF

— Jack Sommers (@shoewizard59) March 18, 2023

The D-backs had a scare in the bottom of the fifth when Gabriel Moreno was hit on the hand with a pitch and had to be removed from the game. But he said afterwards he did not feel it was too serious and is not getting an X-ray for now. If there is swelling tomorrow morning then he may get the X-ray.  Torey Lovullo said he would be day-to-day.  

Yairo Muñoz also came out of the game with a right calf strain, and will likely get imaging on the leg. It happened when he caught a spike in the ground on a swing and he was not able to pivot. 

The bullpen was almost perfect today. Other than Ginkel allowing the inherited runner to score, there was no further scoring against the relievers. Ginkel went on to throw a scoreless sixth despite a two out double. Ryan Hendrix, Jeurys Familia, and Miguel Castro all retired the side in order in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings to slam the door shut.  

The game took just 2:26 to complete. The Diamondbacks take on the Royals on Sunday at Salt River Fields  with a 1:10 P.M game time.  Left-hander Tommy Henry will face former Diamondback Zack Greinke.