Diamondbacks 7, Dodgers 2: Zac Gallen Dominates

Ketel Marte leads the offense

By Jack Sommers Sep 26, 2021, 12:12am EDT

On a beautiful evening at Chase Field with the roof and panels open and 28,000 loud fans in the house the Diamondbacks matched the atmosphere, creating some beauty of their own with one of their best played games of the year. Sending the Dodgers to a 7-2 defeat on a night the Giants won, the D-backs embraced their spoiler role with gusto.

Zac Gallen had one of his best games of the year. Coming out aggressive and strong from the start, he was firing fastballs in the zone and working his changeup effectively. He recorded 6 strikeouts through the first two inning, allowing just one infield hit.

Meanwhile the D-backs got off to a great start on offense when Ketel Marte launched a missle into the left field bleachers on the first pitch he saw from Clayton Kershaw, spotting Gallen a 1-0 lead. Not to be outdone, Carson Kelly lead off the 2nd inning with a homer into the D-backs bullpen upping the score to 2-0.

Gallen had a slight hiccup in the third issuing a couple of two out walks, but got Trea Turner to line out to center ending that threat. He gave up a harmless two out single in the 4th, and pitched a 1-2-3 5th.

The offense scored single runs in the both the 4th and 5th innings. Christian Walker scored when Justin Turner air mailed a throw over first base on a grounder from Ildemaro Vargas. Daulton Varsho roped a single into center to score Ketel Marte in the 5th, knocking Kershaw out of the game. Marte had 3 hits on the night and only a great catch on a deep fly in the corner by Mookie Betts kept him from getting number 4. Varsho also had a double off the wall in left center in the 7th, just missing homer.

The lone blemish against Gallen came in the 6th when Trea Turner turned on a fastball in off the plate and just barely kept it fair as it went over the D-backs bullpen in left. Max Muncy skied one to deep center that Jake McCarthy corralled at the track and then Gallen finished strong striking out Will Smith.

Zac’s final line was 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER on the homer, 2 BB, 8K

It was a dominant outing and in fact was a year to the day when he last won a game at home. He was pretty pumped up early on, touching 96 on his fastball. After the game Zac said that although it might not have been his best game by the numbers, it was probably the most gratifying. It was “The first time in I don’t know how long it clicked”

The D-backs continued to tack on runs. In the 7th Kole Calhoun came off the bench to deliver an RBI knock, driving in McCarthy who had two walks. David Peralta pinch hit in the 8th and drove in two as well. They scored in 6 different innings in this game.

The bullpen held up recording 9 outs and giving up just one run. Joe Mantiply and Noe Ramirez worked scoreless innings in the 7th and 8th. Caleb Smith allowed a homer to Trea Turner, his second of the game but otherwise locked down his inning and the game.

After the game Torey talked about how the fans responded to the early offense and Zac’s pitching and they were loud and the players heard them and it helped create a great energy in the dugout. Gallen for his part though said it didn’t impact him one way or the other as he was in the zone and blacked everything else out.

Post Game Audio Torey and Zac Gallen

Fangraphs Box Score