Diamondbacks Down Giants 7-4

Zac Gallen pitched a gem allowing just 1 run in 7 innings. He set a major league record for most consecutive starts to begin a career allowing 3 runs or fewer for the 22nd straight time. He entered the game tied with Aaron Sele at 21. He gained his first victory of the year as the Diamondbacks snapped an 8 game losing streak.

Gallen got two quick outs in the first inning on 6 pitches, but then allowed a single, a walk, and took 8 pitches to strike out former D-back Wilmer Flores to finally get out of the inning with 22 pitches thrown. From there he would be highly efficient however. He needed just 70 pitches to navigate the next 6 innings. He allowed a baserunner in the 3rd who was doubled off on a spectacular play from Christian Walker to start a 3-6-3 double play. More good defense ended the 4th inning. Ketel Marte made a great play behind and to the left of second base, and threw over Walker who made an excellent scoop, the first of several Walker made on the night.

A two out solo shot by Evan Longoria in the 6th accounted for the only run against Gallen. He allowed one out singles in the 7th to Donovan Solano and Brandon Crawford, but got out of the inning with a pop out to center and another defensive gem from Ketel Marte who made a running leaping catch on a liner into shallow right to preserve the streak and record. After the game Ketel said he felt really good about the defensive plays tonight and his main focus is just to try to save as many runs as he can for his guys. He also mentioned again his goal to win a gold glove. Highlights like these will help his case.

Gallen’s final line was 7 IP, 1 run on 5 hits, 1 Walk, 5 K’s and 1 HR. After the game he acknowledged that he actually had been thinking about the record since the beginning of the season. He knew he was at 15 and was checking the calendar to see when his chance might come. His consistency is remarkable. As Nick Piecoro commented during the post game presser, not only has he not had a bad game, it seems like he hasn’t had a really bad inning either.

Gallen is maturing and blossoming into a complete, and cerebral pitcher before our eyes. For example, he said:

“The one thing I did notice today was they were swinging pretty early. I was just trying to get our offense back in the dugout. That’s the biggest thing, if you can keep them in a rythm.”

Regarding getting his first Win of the season:

“ I saw a stat, we had won 4 of the games I had pitched. For me the decisions don’t really matter. As long as we have the most runs at the end of the game it’s fne by me. “

One other key point of the post game discussion he touched on was his discussion with Matt Herges about how it takes getting deep into games to get into upper echelon of elite pitchers. He is focused on that and has a quiet confidence and sense of himself and his capability of joining that class of pitcher. Give a listen

Contrary to the last time they faced Tyler Anderson, the offense was on point against the Giants lefty. The “M&M boys Ketel and Starling Marte got things started in the first with a double and a single to help the team jump out to a 1-0 lead.

After a leadoff double by Carson Kelly in the 3rd, Tim Locastro singled and Ketel got hit by a pitch to load the bases. Christian Walker hit an RBI sac fly and David Peralta hit a shift beating ground ball into left center to score Locastro, giving Arizona a 3-0 lead they would never relinquish.

The D-backs tacked on four more runs in the 5th bringing 9 men to the plate. The inning started with a Tim Locastro walk. Tim was on base 3 times on the night. That was followed by singles from the two Martes and another by Christian Walker. Nick Ahmed had a two out rbi double as well, ending Tyler Anderson’s night. That closed out the scoring for the D-backs as the Giants bullpen shut them down from there.

Taylor Widener struggled in the 9th after pitching a scoreless 8th. A leadoff triple by Brandon Belt was followed by a Flores double to drive in a run. A ground out later Brandon Crawford drilled a homer to right and all of a sudden it was a 7-4 ballgame. Matt Herges came out for a visit , and Archie Bradley had to start getting loose. But Widener got Joey Bart looking on a fast ball up and on the outer black. Then he got late inning replacement Steven Duggar to ground out to end the game.

Fangraphs Box Score

WPA Leaders:

Zac Gallen +.269, Ketel Marte +.088, Starling Marte +.065

In keeping with the positive theme of the game thread, no negative numbers worth posting here. Only 13 people showed up, but it was an up beat night from the get go and I’m sure all who were there had fun.

COTD goes to DC. (I had to give him the 4th rec to turn it red ;)

The Diamondbacks will head back out tomorrow at 5:10 P.M. as Luke Weaver takes on Trevor Cahill and the Giants to try to make it two in a row.