Diamondbacks Gameday Thread, #132: 8/28 @ Dodgers

Well, using Slade Cecconi yesterday rather than Zac Gallen worked out very well for the D-backs. They won the game, took the series and now get to send their ace to the mound in the series opener. This week should see two starts for Gallen, as I’m presuming he will also appear in the Orioles series. That’ll be Saturday on regular five days’ rest, or Sunday if they keep everyone on rotation. As for tonight, we’ll see if Gallen can overcome those dramatic home/road splits. In Chase he is 11-1 with a 1.79 ERA. But everywhere else, he is a much more mediocre 3-4 with a 4.46 ERA. That said, Zac won his lastroad outing, with 6.1 innings of one-run ball in San Diego. His last four have all been quality starts too.

On the other hand, the only time Gallen faced the Dodgers this year did not go well. That was also at Dodger Stadium, and was all the way back on Opening Day in March. He couldn’t get through five innings, allowing six hits and three walks over 4.2 innings, and being charged with five runs, all earned, in an 8-2 defeat. That remains the third-worst of his 27 starts so far by Game Score. The Dodgers remain the second-best offense in the National League, behind the Braves, by just about every metric. They’re averaging 5.61 runs per game, with a .794 OPS and a 113 OPS+, so Gallen will need to have brought his A game with him on the plane from Phoenix.

However, the starting rotation for Los Angeles has been held together with duct-tape and hope for much of the season. Nobody has made more than twenty starts, and it was announced today that one of the two pitchers who had, Tony Gonsolin, will be having Tommy John surgery, so he’s likely toast until 2025. Of the eight pitchers with between five and twenty starts, three are on the IL and a fourth (Noah Syndergaard) just got DFA’d by a completely different team. It’s possible the Dodgers will end the year nobody with more than 25 starts. Outside of seasons which were shortened for one reason or another, I don’t think that has ever happened.