Zac Gallen steps up to take pressure off Diamondbacks in vital win over Giants

PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks were in dire need of their ace to “rise to the occasion” and stop the bleeding of a three-game losing streak, and Zac Gallen delivered Wednesday against the San Francisco Giants.

In likely the final start of Gallen’s regular season, he gave the D-backs six innings with one run on two hits, striking out a season-high 11 batters en route to an 8-2 victory to keep Arizona (88-71) in a postseason spot.

“That’s probably the best I’ve felt in a while,” Gallen said. “There’s been some good outings in there, but either just didn’t feel great or battled a little bit of a sickness for a little while. … It’s best one in a while.”

His day did not start off particularly neat, as Gallen labored through the first two frames on 41 pitches and San Francisco took a 1-0 lead in the second on a Tyler Fitzgerald double. From there, Gallen was brilliant, retiring 12 Giants in a row with seven punch outs.

The offense, meanwhile, started to rally. From innings 2-4, Arizona racked up five runs on seven hits and five walks. By the end of the fourth inning, every hitter in the D-backs’ lineup had reached base safely. The Giants yanked starter Mason Black after 2.2 innings.

Pavin Smith broke the game open in the eighth inning with a pinch-hit, three-run shot to the pool to take an 8-2 lead.

The third inning was key. Arizona just took a 3-1 lead, and Gallen got the offense right back to work with a nine-pitch, 1-2-3 frame. The D-backs extended the lead to 4-1, and Gallen was off and cruising.

“To put up a couple runs and have a quick 1-2-3 inning, get right back in the dugout, keep the offense rolling, keep the energy high, all that is so important,” first baseman Christian Walker said.

Gallen finished off seven of his strikeouts with the curveball, which induced 11 whiffs on 17 swings, to which he said, “They just seemed really aggressive at the bottom of the zone, so I was trying to use it to my my advantage.”

The right-hander finished his September with a 2.67 ERA in five starts, all of which resulted in wins. He held the Giants hitless in six shutout innings earlier this month at Oracle Park.

“Proud of the guys for sure. This was a big one.”

Zac Gallen on the D-backs bouncing back. pic.twitter.com/ePh0zFFn3n

— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) September 26, 2024

Gallen (likely) closed his regular season with a solid 3.65 ERA in 148 innings and the D-backs went 18-10 in his starts (he earned a 14-6 record). There was more variance than what we’ve grown accustomed to over the past few seasons — 3.47 ERA in 2023, 2.54 in 2022 — as Gallen sought a certain rhythm all year.

But Wednesday was a game the Diamondbacks frankly had to have, and he — in manager Torey Lovullo and general manager Mike Hazen’s words — was the right guy in the right spot.

“The biggest thing is just pitching to win, not pitching to not lose,” Gallen said. “When you get a tight spot, you can be a little, I don’t want to say timid, but maybe you’re waiting for something to happen. So I’m trying to be on the attack, trying to be aggressive, just take it to them.”

The New York Mets and Atlanta Braves were rained out for both Wednesday and Thursday, so the D-backs picked up a half-game on both Wild Card contenders in the standings. The D-backs and Mets (87-70) are in a virtual tie one game up on the Braves (86-71) entering Thursday.

The Diamondbacks had to get over a gut punch from Sunday’s 10-9 loss in Milwaukee, and the next two days against the Giants were below standard that led the club to this point.

Lovullo addressed the team on Tuesday, noting he thought about screaming at them during an 11-0 loss but thought better of it, and the message came out quite positive from the players’ recollection. Wednesday was much closer to “Diamondbacks baseball” with a clean operation and a lineup that can get on a pitcher with its patience and depth.

There was a weight to the moment felt in the clubhouse, not anxiety but “urgency” popped up postgame from multiple players.

“These matter big time,” Walker said. “I think we had to prove to ourselves to get back on track. We had to find a little confidence, a little swagger. A lot of props to Gallen on the mound tonight, but I think we checked a lot of boxes taking a little bit of load off, and taking some pressure off and remembering how good this offense can be.”

“I feel like there’s just sense of urgency,” Smith added. “You can call it pressure. We know they’re super important, so it’s going to feel a little extra pressure. But just getting out to a good start today, and then Gallen being so dominant took the pressure off a little bit.”

Lovullo described the slate as clean going into the final series of the regular season, which starts Friday against the San Diego Padres. Merrill Kelly will start the opener.

Hazen told Arizona Sports’ Wolf & Luke pregame his goal was 90 wins, which requires a series win over the postseason-bound Padres. Doing so would not in itself guarantee a playoff spot, which may not be finalized until Monday when the Mets and Braves have a doubleheader scheduled, but it would put the D-backs in a strong position to hold firm.

A sweep would end any doubt.

“We very much feel like we control our own destiny in here,” Walker said.

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