D-backs waste another Zac Gallen gem, fall in extras to Dodgers
Sep 2, 2020, 10:31 PM
Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Zac Gallen walks off the field after being pulled during the eighth inning of the team's baseball game Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
After a 3-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 10 innings on Wednesday, it feels like the Arizona Diamondbacks are officially in a freefall.
They’ve dropped 12 of their last 13 games, and in nine of those 13 losses, they’ve failed to score more than two runs. The fashion in which they are losing lately speaks to a team that has lost itself.
The offense that is ruining their season ruined another great outing from right-hander Zac Gallen, who inexplicably still has only one win on the season.
Gallen’s ERA on the season dropped to 1.80 after seven scoreless innings. He allowed only one hit and two walks, with all three of those baserunners failing to reach scoring position.
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Arizona managed only one run through eight and a half innings of Gallen being in line for a victory, and terrific Dodgers starter Walker Buehler only threw for five of them, so they had some lesser arms to hit off of.
Christian Walker’s solo homer in the sixth was the lone run of support for Gallen, and the D-backs managed only five hits and two walks in the first nine innings.
After a scoreless eighth from Arizona’s Stefan Crichton, Kevin Ginkel took the ninth in the place of traded closer Archie Bradley. The Dodgers’ Mookie Betts homered off Ginkel to tie the game and send it to extras for the first time this season.
Some fortune came the D-backs’ way when Los Angeles’ Kenley Jansen, one of baseball’s best closers in the last decade, struggled immensely to throw strikes in the 10th.
But they barely took advantage of it.
With Daulton Varsho as the free runner on second base, Kole Calhoun walked, Ketel Marte was hit by a pitch and Christian Walker drew four balls as well to score Varsho.
With the bases loaded and one out with two of the D-backs’ best hitters up, David Peralta popped out and Eduardo Escobar struck out.
Not being able to get more out of that situation came back to bite them, as Junior Guerra gave up one run in the 10th on a throwing error by himself off a Chris Taylor bunt that scored that free runner on second.
The Dodgers’ Joc Pederson moved Taylor over to third on a groundout and the game ended on Will Smith’s single in the next at-bat.
While it was aided by a D-backs error, the Dodgers’ methodical way of going about that inning and Arizona’s failure to capitalize spoke to the divide in quality between the two sides.
