D-backs 1, Orioles 5: Gallen funk

This was not the Zac we saw in Yankee Stadium.

Record: 5-6. Pace: 74-88. Change on 2024: +1.

Ah, remember those heady preseason days where we were excited and optimistic about our starting rotation? USA Today ranked the Diamondbacks as the fourth-best in the majors there, and so did The Athletic. Considering they came in 27th by ERA last year (4.79), that was quite the turnaround. We shocked the baseball world with the signing of Corbin Burnes, had the prospect of healthy campaigns from Merrill Kelly and Eduardo Rodriguez, and Brandon Pfaadt was a hot pick to have a breakout season. The Jordan Montgomery question then resolved itself, albeit in an unfortunate way. But the first two weeks haven’t quite worked out that way.

I didn’t mention Zac Gallen above. Last time out, he was truly dominant over the Yankees in New York, striking out a career-high 13 over 6.2 scoreless innings. But tonight, it felt as if that version is still circling on the luggage carousel at Sky Harbor Airport. Yes, there was – not for the first time – a key defensive misplay which will not show up in the box-score. But if you allow seven hits and four walks in only 4.2 innings, you’re probably not going to have a very good night, regardless of what your fielders do behind you. So it proved. The five runs charged to Gallen means every Arizona starter now has an ERA of 5.25 or higher. Collectively, through 11 games and 56 innings, the rotation has an ERA of 6.27 and are 3-6.

And it had started so well too. By “started”, I mean the first batter, Gunnar Henderson being made to look extremely silly, swinging over the top of a patented Gallen curveball for strike three. However, two batters later, another curve didn’t dip out of the strike zone, and became a souvenir in the right-field bleachers, as the Orioles quickly took a 1-0 lead. It was the 13th run allowed by the D-backs in 11 first innings this year. In the second, Gallen put two on base with one out, before a sweetly turned double-play (albeit needing a challenge) ended the inning. The third saw more trouble, with a double, single and double for Baltimore, all with one out, adding a second run.

He escaped with the bases loaded there, and a 1-2-3 fourth gave some hope Zac could work through it. But he made his own trouble, loading the bases with one out on a single and a pair of walks. He could, and probably should, have got out of it, as Cedric Mullins hit the ball hard (104.6 mph), straight at Tim Tawa. However, the rookie may have been somewhat lulled to sleep by Gallen’s inability to find the strike-zone. He clanked it, and though he recovered to make the second out, one run crossed home. Worse was to follow as, instead of the inning being over, a single back up the middle scored an additional two runs, to make the score 5-1 in favor of the visitors.

That was the end of Gallen’s night: 7 hits, 4 walks and 5 earned runs with only two strikeouts among the 24 batters faced. His strike-rate, 50 of 96 pitches, was the second lowest percentage of career, surpassed only by the 43 of 83 on Opening Day, when he also issued four walks. That they sandwiched the Yankees start is maddening. Ryan Thompson and Ryne Nelson then worked 4.1 shutout innings of hitless relief, so that was nice. But it was another night where the starting pitching was not up to the task, and there have been far more of those than is acceptable.

In the end though, the Tawa misplay was irrelevant, as the additional runs simply padded the margin of defeat. The offense was almost non-existent, the D-backs being held to five hits, going 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. The only run was scored in the fourth, when singles by Pavin Smith and Josh Naylor, plus an Orioles error, put men on second and third with no outs. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. got Arizona on the board with a sac fly, making the score 2-1. But neither Gabriel Moreno nor Jake McCarthy could push across the tying run. McCarthy went 0-for-3 and is now 0-for-22. The 8-game hitless streak is the worst start in franchise history by a D-back position player from the Opening Day roster.

Positives were hard to find for the crowd of 20,333 (sixteen thousand lower than any game in the Cubs series). Corbin Carroll did have a very nice hustle double with two outs in the third. Naylor also cranked a double off the wall in right, for Arizona’s first hit in the second – though as I noted in the GDT, he still trails Jose Herrera in the HR column. Nelson retired all nine batters he faced, so if we need a replacement in the rotation… The problem is, there are five credible candidates for that right now. But, let’s not forget, the team is still one game AHEAD of where they were at this point in 2024. It’s still extremely early, and things will, almost certainly, radically change during the next six months.

I was quite impressed we managed to get close to 300 comments, on a night where the team trailed from the third batter in the game, and rarely looked like doing much. Kudos to all concerned who stuck it out, even after I largely bailed to get a jump on this recap. There were a good number of amusing comments, but the most appropriate has to belong to VW Beetle:

For all those interested, there will be another meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous here tomorrow night. Tea and biscuits will be provided. 🙂 Guest speaker will be Merrill Kelly, with a first pitch at 6:40 pm as the team seeks to climb back up to Mt. 500. I hope that’s not going to be a pattern again this year, but we shall see…