Diamondbacks survive wild finish vs. Padres after Zac Gallen throws another gem
Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen worked another excellent start with six innings and no earned runs on Monday against the San Diego Padres.
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SAN DIEGO — The Arizona Diamondbacks had to fight for a 6-3 victory at the San Diego Padres on Monday after taking blows before the game even got underway.
Minutes ahead of first pitch, Arizona not only scratched All-Star Ketel Marte with groin tightness but also placed closer Shelby Miller on the injured list with a forearm strain.
The Padres then took a 1-0 lead in the first inning after Fernando Tatis Jr. led off with a walk and scored on a throwing error by Geraldo Perdomo.
Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen allowed his offense to land the counter attack with a second straight excellent start, throwing six innings with no earned runs.
The Diamondbacks’ lineup — after getting shut out on Sunday — provided enough cushion and finished with nine hits, including five for extra bases, and six walks.
Their beat-up bullpen ran into trouble but did just enough to hold the line. Juan Morillo stranded the bases loaded in the eighth inning after he just arrived from the airport to replace Miller on the roster. Kevin Ginkel earned the save after Alek Thomas made a clutch sliding catch in the ninth inning to rob Jackson Merrill of extra bases.
Alek Thomas tracks it down to make an UNBELIEVABLE catch 🤯 pic.twitter.com/nIhcQhJ8OD
— MLB (@MLB) July 8, 2025
That play avoided bringing the tying run to the plate, and Manny Machado bounced into the game-ending double play.
“ I think tonight showed our resiliency,” Gallen said. “Obviously a tough loss on Sunday. We didn’t have the greatest homestand … Guys are just trying to be resilient, just trying to execute to see where we’re at.”
“It was a gut-check win,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “Our guys went out there despite some very tough circumstances, blocked it out and executed and won a baseball game against a really good team in a tough venue. … They didn’t let that news affect them. It’s easy to get distracted, but this team doesn’t. They go out there and fight and hustle and play hard. It was a great win.”
Arizona moved to 45-46 on the season and 3-1 against San Diego.
Zac Gallen deals vs. Padres
After an awkward first inning, Gallen dialed it in and seemed to get stronger later in his performance. He struck out the side in the fifth inning and punched out two more in a scoreless sixth to end his night. He threw a total of 103 pitches, which tied his season high, striking out nine batters with only the one walk.
Gallen has delivered back-to-back gem starts against division foes, as he threw seven innings with one earned run and 10 strikeouts against the San Francisco Giants last week.
He’s thrown quality starts in back-to-back outings for the second time all year, last doing so in consecutive appearances against the New York Mets in May.
“This year’s definitely been pretty frustrating for me,” Gallen said. “Just felt like it’s been a couple good ones then a tough one. Just try to go out there and execute 100 pitches a night and try to stay locked in. … (Catcher James McCann) has been great. We’ve gotten on a pretty good page here.”
McCann has caught Gallen’s last two starts, and Lovullo mentioned pregame he would stick with that battery if it kept working.
Gallen also has a track record against the Padres. In his last five starts against them, he’s allowed five earned runs in 26.2 innings (1.69 ERA).
He will make one more start before the All-Star break against the Los Angeles Angels.
“ I think he’s the reason we won this game,” Lovullo said. “He’s gonna get on a roll for us and carry us. We’ve been waiting for these types of things to happen. … It was a really nice job by him to get us grounded on a night where things could have really gotten outta control.”
Diamondbacks face Yu Darvish
The D-backs faced Padres starter Yu Darvish for the 20th time in his career, and Monday was eventful for San Diego as Darvish made his season debut after dealing with elbow injuries.
Arizona tied the game in the second inning on an RBI double down the third-base line by Eugenio Suarez, his 74th RBI of the season (tied for second in MLB).
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. singled home the go-ahead run in the third inning, and Darvish exited with two outs in the fourth (3.2 IP, 2 ER, 5 K).
Josh Naylor padded the lead with a 413-foot shot to right-center field in the fifth inning of southpaw Yuki Matsui. Corbin Carroll tripled home another run in the eighth inning and scored on a Perdomo single. Carroll, who was hitless over his first two games after coming off the injured list (fractured wrist), went 2-for-5 with a double and his 10th triple of the season.
Juan Morillo and the bullpen adventure
Kyle Backhus recorded the first four of nine outs while allowing two runs, one of which was earned. A second Perdomo error cost him a run in the seventh, and Machado hit a solo shot in the eighth to cut Arizona’s lead to 6-3.
Arizona called in Morillo with one on and one out in the eighth inning fresh off the plane. Morillo said he arrived in the seventh inning.
He walked the bases loaded with two outs, as Morillo threw 17 total pitches with only five strikes.
Morillo fell behind pinch hitter Elias Diaz 3-1 with Tatis on deck before coming back to record the strikeout.
”It’s part of the business, part of the process,” Morillo said. “I was in Reno and the manager called me and said you gotta go to the show again. And I was ready.”
Lovullo said Miller will have imaging done, and while there is no timetable known presently, the skipper’s concern level was “not low.”
The Diamondbacks will need younger arms like Morillo and Backhus to continue providing high leverage innings.
“Those are building blocks for young players to go out and get big outs and have big moments in this arena,” Lovullo said.
Milestone for Manny Machado
Machado put up three hits to surpass 2,000 for his career on Monday. He is only the fifth active player to reach that milestone, the others being Freddie Freeman, Jose Altuve, Andrew McCutchen and Paul Goldschmidt.
Up next for Diamondbacks
Merrill Kelly (3.55 ERA) will follow Gallen on Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. MST. San Diego will run out right-hander Nick Pivetta (3.25).
Catch the game on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app.
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