Diamondbacks, Zac Gallen Snakebit in Frustrating Loss to Rangers

Zac Gallen's second pitch of the game was a fastball that was turned around by former Arizona Diamondback Joc Pederson for a line-drive home run into the right field bleachers. That set the tone for the kind of night both Gallen and the D-backs would have in a 7-4 loss to the Texas Rangers.

Zac Gallen Scared Off Fastball, Suffers Bad Luck

For most of the rest of his outing, Gallen tended to stay away from the fastball, choosing to throw a heavy dose of sliders, changeups, and curveballs. By the time he went back to the fastball late in his outing, most of the damage was already done.

A walk and hit-by-pitch in the second inning led to an RBI single by Jake Burger. It was a soft-serve line drive of just 71 MPH to right field, but enough to plate the Rangers' second run.

Ezequiel Duran managed to hit an opposite-field homer to right off a slider on a ball he hit just 92 MPH. The ball snuck over the wall just 338 feet away as Corbin Carroll slammed his knee trying to make the home run robbery.

If you're detecting a theme to these play descriptions, it's because there definitely was one present. A one-out triple by Brandon Nimmo was followed by an ill-advised attempt by Ildemaro Vargas to get the out at home on a grounder. Everyone was safe.

A 69 MPH hit by Josh Jung, and a seeing-eye ground ball by Duran chased Gallen from the game. Two more ground ball base hits against Ryan Thompson, neither of them hard-hit, plated both inherited runs in a what turned out to be a four-run inning.

Gallen's final line was 4.2 IP, 7 hits, 7 earned runs, with two walks, four strikeouts, and two homers alllowed. His ERA ballooned to 5.60 on the season and his record fell to 1-4.

This outing was not all bad luck. He only gave up five hard-hit balls over 95 MPH, but after three strikeouts looking he didn't get his next strikeout until the top of the fifth.

Gallen's velocity was down about one MPH, and the issues with inability to put hitters away with the fastball continued. He had just one whiff on 10 swings against the four-seamer. He came in with the second-lowest whiff rate (4.5%) on the fastball in all of MLB.

The Pederson home run seemed to scare Gallen off using the pitch, and the nibbling with breaking and offspeed ensued, driving up his pitch count. The D-backs hoped they were resigning the pitcher that had a good second half in 2025, but the results so far have made that $22 million contract look like a massive mistake.

D-backs Offense Can't Catch a Break

The offense, meanwhile, struggled to collect hits against MacKenzie Gore. Ildemaro Vargas hit his seventh homer of the year on a line drive shot to left field in the second inning. The D-backs' next hit did not come until a Corbin Carroll single in the sixth.

That wasn't for lack of trying however. The D-backs hit 10 balls over 95 MPH, five of them over 100. But all they had to show for the hard contact against Gore was three hits, including a Ryan Waldschmidt two-out double off the wall in the eighth inning.

Rangers relief pitcher Gavin Collyer made things interesting by walking the bases loaded with nobody out in the ninth. Vargas lined a base hit to drive in one. A groundout by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and a deep sac fly by Gabriel Moreno plated two more, getting the score to 7-4. But slumping rookie Jose Fernandez grounded out to second base to end the game.

The D-backs fall to 20-21 and will play the rubber match Thursday night behind Ryne Nelson. Kumar Rocker goes for the Rangers.

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