Braves wear out Zac Gallen in 6-2 loss to Diamondbacks

The Diamondbacks lost to the Atlanta Braves at Chase Field on Tuesday night 6-2. Starting pitcher Zac Gallen allowed five runs in 5.1 innings. That included a three-run home run to Adam Duvall on his 104th and final pitch. It was an 0-2 curveball that stayed just far enough over the middle of the plate, and the slugger hit it to left field, giving Atlanta a 5-0 lead at the time.

Gallen’s pitch count got so high because of a rough second inning, throwing 36 pitches. A leadoff double by Marcel Ozuna was followed by a walk and a passed ball by Gabriel Moreno. It cost Gallen dearly because the next batter, Eddie Rosario, hit a base hit to third base that would have been a double play if the runners had not advanced.

A groundout for an RBI was followed by a line drive from Orlando Arcia right to second baseman Ketel Marte. The ball appeared to break when it hit his glove and sank into right field as a second run was scored. It took Gallen two more batters to get out of the inning, and his pitch count had risen to 53 when the inning ended.

Torey Lovullo could be seen talking to a visibly upset Marte a few times in the dugout after the game. “He was upset that he didn’t make the play and let the team down at that point. I just wanted to assure him that he didn’t… I just wanted to set his mind straight and say, oh man, okay, this happened, pull him and let’s go.”

Gallen then calmed down. A superb double play started on a diving stop by Kevin Newman ended the third inning, and Gallen retired all three batters in order in the fourth and fifth. He struck out Austin Riley to start the sixth, but a long double by Matt Olson and a single by Ozuna set up Duvall’s home run that knocked Gallen out of the game.

Gallen threw 43 curveballs, more than any other pitch. “That’s my best pitch, I’ll live and die by that pitch,” he said.

Gallen had shown a spike in velocity in his previous outing against the Dodgers, averaging 98 and 96. But tonight, his fastball average dropped back to 94, closer to his season average of 93.3. He topped out at 96.7, but said afterward he was trying to dial it back a bit in favor of better control.

“I was probably throwing 90 percent of my pitches. I was trying to get a little more under control… I felt like I was a little out of control the last start. The fastball control suffered a little bit. So I was just trying to calm down a little bit.”

Gallen believes fatigue and pitch count weren’t the main factors influencing Duvall’s pitch, but rather sequencing. “Maybe just moving the eye level a little bit, maybe throwing a fastball up or down, whatever, I think it was more about sequencing.”

Torey Lovullo said the bullpen was a little short on players, so he tried to extend Gallen a little longer than he normally would have. “I put the pieces together and thought if he gave us six innings, we’d be in a great situation. So I put him out there and asked him to throw a little bit more, 105 pitches, and he made that mistake on Duvall on an 0-2 curveball and that’s part of the game.”

The offense didn’t have a great night against Braves ace Chris Sale. They were able to draw several walks early in the game and increase his pitch count. But they didn’t manage to get a significant hit on him until the bottom of the sixth inning.

Trailing 5-0 at the time, Gabriel Moreno singled with one out. Jake McCarthy then hit a fly ball into the right-center field gap for an RBI triple. He scored on a groundout by Eugenio Suarez, which gave the D-backs a two-run lead.

That got Sale out of the game, but the Braves bullpen held the D-backs to just one single the rest of the way. Jarred Kelenic made a spectacular catch in the seventh inning on a smash against the center-field wall by Randal Grichuk to steal extra bases.

“The D-backs are now 45-47, 2.5 games out of the wild card behind the San Diego Padres. Game 3 of the series is Wednesday night at 6:40 p.m. The D-backs are likely to start an opening pitcher followed by big-time pitcher Slade Cecconi. Charlie Morton will pitch for the Braves.