Zac Gallen ties strikeout career high as Diamondbacks hold on to beat Yankees

Zac Gallen tied his career high with 13 strikeouts and the Diamondbacks survived a late Yankees rally on a damp and cold night in the Bronx, winning 4-3.

After his Opening Day struggles, Gallen went through a stretch Wednesday where he retired 11 straight Yankees, effectively throwing the knuckle curve while getting the Yankees to chase.

Zac Gallen, Dirty Knuckle Curves…and Sword. ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/zNIk47ovdL

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 3, 2025

The Diamondbacks ace gave Arizona 6.2 scoreless innings, allowing only three hits and zero walks. He tossed 101 pitches, with 64 of them being strikes.

Arizona also attacked Yankees pitcher Carlos Rodon from the onset and tagged him for four runs in the first two innings. Rodon went six innings and allowed four earned runs, but all of the damage was done early.

After a leadoff walk from Ketel Marte, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. sent Rodon’s 94.2 mph four-seam fastball to the seats in the second deck to put Arizona up 2-0 in the top of the first. It was Gurriel Jr.’s second home run of the season, and it came against a team he had historically struggled against after he was 0-for-34 in his past 34 at-bats against the Yankees.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. sends this one to the second deck 😤 pic.twitter.com/CLm2ig8O1m

— MLB (@MLB) April 2, 2025

The D-backs further attacked Rodon in the second inning, tacking on two more runs.

Eugenio Suarez, the reigning National League Player of the Week, started the inning with another leadoff walk, and Gabriel Moreno later reached on an infield single. After Jake McCarthy grounded out which moved the runners over, Geraldo Perdomo hit a sacrifice fly to score Suarez. Perdomo has now driven in a run in five of the D-backs’ first six games of the year.

Later in the inning, Marte drove in Moreno with an RBI single to make it 4-0, but the Yankees got out of the inning after Marte was caught stealing second.

Gallen from nearby New Jersey faced a bit of trouble in the bottom half of the frame but was able to get out of the inning unscathed.

Gallen gave up a leadoff single to Jazz Chisholm Jr. and a subsequent one-out double to Austin Wells before striking out Jasson Dominguez and Ben Rice with his knuckle curve. It was a pitch that gave the Yankees’ high-powered offense problems all night.

The D-backs pitcher would then retire the next nine hitters he faced.

Gallen only allowed four baserunners (Oswaldo Cabrera reached on a wild pitch after striking out) and Perdomo twice made impressive defensive efforts to assist Gallen.

A play so nice he catches it twice!

Geraldo Perdomo ranges all the way to center field to make this play 😳 pic.twitter.com/hKD45V1U9k

— MLB (@MLB) April 2, 2025

Ketel Marte y Geraldo Perdomo, ¡joyita defensiva de los Dbacks! 🐍 pic.twitter.com/Bm82f3CwfU

— MLB Español (@mlbespanol) April 3, 2025

After Arizona’s hot start offensively, the bats cooled off and the D-backs did not record a hit during the final seven innings. After Rodon exited, Yoendrys Gomez gave the Yankees three innings of relief and did not allow a hit.

Yankees’ late rally not enough as D-backs hold on

Arizona reliever Ryan Thompson allowed singles from Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge to begin the ninth and was later pulled for A.J. Puk.

Puk got Chisholm Jr. to fly out to right and Bellinger tagged to advance to third. On the next pitch, Anthony Volpe took Puk deep to bring the Yankees within one.

Anthony Volpe makes it a one-run game in the Bronx! pic.twitter.com/HXjcM9MY9E

— MLB (@MLB) April 3, 2025

But Arizona held on as Puk got Wells to foul out before Dominguez struck out to end the game.

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