Diamondbacks having a tough week, blown out by Braves

PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks played a poor baseball game across the board on Friday, losing 8-2 to the Atlanta Braves in their third straight defeat at Chase Field.

Zac Gallen fell into a 3-0 hole before settling in, the defense did not help its pitchers out for the second straight game and the bats failed to get much going.

This has been a tough week for the D-backs (14-12), who lost back-to-back games in extra innings to the Tampa Bay Rays before starting a stretch of five straight series against 2024 National League playoff teams.

“These are some grinding times,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “We budget for these types of days. We budget for games that aren’t played well and we go out there and we have an outcome like we do tonight. We’ve had that happening for the past three nights, but it’s part of the game. We got to find a way to come out with some energy and focus and get things to turn around.”

Lovullo felt his team became “super flat” once Friday’s game started to slip away.

Gallen once again ran into trouble in the early-going, needing 59 pitches to get through two innings. He walked back-to-back hitters with two outs in the first before retiring the side, but he found no such luck in the second.

Atlanta (11-14) tagged Gallen with three runs on four hits in a 32-pitch frame, scoring twice with two outs. There was some misfortune, namely a flared double by Alex Verdugo that landed in the perfect spot inside the left-field line.

“Pretty frustrating,” Gallen said. “I feel like the second inning was just unfortunate. Made three pretty good pitches. All three hits, there was nothing over 95 (mph). Verdugo just blooped in.

“Felt like (Gabriel Moreno) and I had a pretty good plan. Felt like we executed it fine. I mean, pretty unfortunate because I felt pretty good. I felt like I had pretty good stuff. Just one of those unlucky ones, I guess.”

Perfectly placed 😎#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/oaQsG73ji1

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 26, 2025

Still, a dubious trend continued:

First inning: 6 IP, 5 ER
Second: 6 IP, 10 ER
Third: 6 IP, 1 ER
Fourth: 6 IP, 1 ER
Fifth: 4.2 IP, 3 ER
Sixth: 3 IP, 0 ER
Seventh: 0.2 IP, 0 ER

And yet, Gallen swiftly retired all nine hitters he faced after the second inning on Friday, striking out three of them.

The D-backs are now 2-4 in Gallen’s starts this year.

Braves starter Chris Sale was not an example of efficiency, either. He threw 29 pitches in the first inning and finished with 104 in five frames.

Where he succeeded was in limiting damage, stranding the bases loaded with one out in the first, leaving a runner on third base with one out in the third and stranding a pair of runners after allowing a run in the fourth.

D-backs outfielder Jorge Barrosa, in his first MLB start of the year, drove in the lone Arizona run off Sale with a single up the middle.

The Diamondbacks did not record their next hit until the eighth inning.

Atlanta pulled away in the sixth with a couple unearned runs charged to Juan Morillo. A low throw from third baseman Eugenio Suarez that first baseman Josh Naylor failed to scoop at first base with two outs plated a run, and Nick Allen followed with an RBI single to take a 5-1 lead. The D-backs committed three errors on Thursday.

Pitching prospect Yilber Diaz ate the final three innings, allowing three runs in the eighth. Arizona recalled Diaz on Friday for bullpen coverage.

Lovullo expressed disappointment with his defense failing to come up with tough plays that are not errors, instead closer to potential web gems that could really help out a pitcher. There were a few examples in this game of hard hit balls in the vicinity of a defender that were not at least knocked down, namely on the left side of the infield during the eighth inning.

“That’s very frustrating to me,” Lovullo said. “I spoke to the guys today and I told them we got to tie some things up and I think they did in certain areas but there were some plays that weren’t made and I think it hurt us.”

aaaand Eli makes it 7-1!#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/bZZOwmol0m

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 26, 2025

The Diamondbacks’ offense, meanwhile, finished with seven hits, right around their average number over the past six games. Arizona has put up 3.67 runs per game since their 10-run inning at Wrigley Field and left 10 men on base on Friday.

Suarez on offense was a bright spot with a double and two walks, scoring both runs. Corbin Carroll hit a triple and nearly a home run, which upon review was overturned to a foul ball down the right-field line.

The Braves have now won six of their last seven games.

Diamondbacks’ next game

The D-backs will look to salvage the series on Saturday night at 5:10 p.m.

Merrill Kelly (4.73 ERA) gets the ball against Atlanta right-hander Grant Holmes (3.22 ERA).

The game will air on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app. 

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