Diamondbacks’ offense produces too little, too late in loss to Indians

The one downside to not allowing a base runner in your first spring training start: You’ll have to wait a week before pitching out of the stretch in your second.

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen, who threw two hitless innings on Feb. 24, again went two innings without a base runner Sunday against the Cleveland Indians.

But he gave up three runs in the third inning after walking one, hitting one by pitch and then leaving a 95 mile an hour fastball lower than he wanted. It was drilled for a home run.

Pitching out of the stretch for the first time messed with him.

“It’s just the first time I’ve seen somebody on base in a game so it was just kind of almost like a little culture shock,” Gallen said.

He finished with four strikeouts and just one hit allowed in 2.1 innings, but those three runs gave the Indians a lead they’d never come close to relinquishing in a 10-6 Arizona loss.

The D-backs have now lost five games in a row.

Don’t let those six runs scored fool you. The offense was sputtering. Through eight innings, Arizona managed just two runs off four hits. Even in the eighth inning, when they loaded up the bases and scored a run, they couldn’t put the ball in play.

Four batters were walked and two struck out that inning. The other out came from a groundout.

“Limited concern because of where we are a week into spring training, but we’re going to continue to pay close attention to it. We don’t want this to continue,” Lovullo said. “If the season was starting tomorrow, I’d have a different attitude.”

The D-backs have struggled to score throughout this losing streak. In each game, they’ve entered the ninth inning with no more than two runs scored. On Thursday, they only had three hits and were shutout by the Cincinnati Reds. The next day, Arizona had just four hits against the Seattle Mariners.

The D-backs were better offensively against the Dodgers on Saturday, but again, two of the four runs were scored in the ninth inning.

Against the Indians, Arizona nearly doubled its hit total in the ninth inning alone as Juniel Querecuto singled, Ben DeLuzio doubled, Wyatt Mathisen walked and Renae Martinez hit a grand slam to make the score look respectable.

“We need to continue to work on and time things up well enough to where we can start to be more consistent throughout the course of the game rather than late in the game,” Lovullo said.

Gallen, on the other hand, was dynamic to start the game. He consistently hit 95 mph with his fastball and was pleased with the movement of his offspeed stuff, even though some were in the dirt and batters often didn’t bite.

“Everything felt good,” Gallen said. “Changes were good, just really gotta work on release point is the biggest thing, just finding that, and curveball same thing. I feel like I threw some really good ones, they just didn’t offer at them.”

Gallen had a scoreless first four innings of spring training. In total, he has thrown 4.1 innings, struck out five and allowed only one hit, the three-run home run that accounts for all the runs he’s given up so far this spring.

If there is still a battle for the fifth spot – or even a fourth, should Mike Leake miss the start of the season due to a fracture in his non-throwing wrist — Gallen is likely making manager Torey Lovullo’s decision easier.

“Zac was overpowering for the first two innings,” Lovullo said. “I think maybe got a little tired, mis-located and didn’t execute some pitches in that third inning … but overall I though he was fantastic.”

NOTES

– Right fielder Trayce Thompson, facing the team that stuck him in Triple-A during the entire season he was with the organization last year, hit a home run in the fifth inning to give the D-backs their first run of the game.

It was his second dinger of spring training and his third hit overall. Thompson, 28, spent time in the majors between 2015-18 but was in the Indians’ Triple-A system all of last season. He hit 24 home runs there, but batted .219.

– Yasmany Tomas got the start at first base as the organization continues to evaluate whether he can produce at the major league level during the final year of his contract, during which he’s paid $17 million.

Tomas entered the game with three hits and one home run in six at-bats, but was 0-for-2 Sunday.

– Travis Snider made an excellent diving catch in left-center field in the seventh inning.

– Lovullo expects the Leake to throw a live batting session Thursday with a net in front of Leake to protect him. He’s unable to catch with his injured left wrist.

Leake went through two-week reevaluation tests “recently,” Lovullo said Sunday, and he pitched three innings in a simulated bullpen session Saturday.

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