Zac Gallen was just nine outs away from recording his first career no-hitter, delivering a dominant performance against the San Francisco Giants on Thursday. However, Gallen’s day ended after six innings, as his pitch count reached the 100-mark.
Leading off the 6th inning, Mike Yastrzemski made it his mission to drive up Gallen’s pitch count, fouling off several pitches and ultimately working a 12-pitch walk. While Yastrzemski was erased on a double play just one pitch later, his at-bat ensured Gallen wouldn’t come out for another inning.
Also hurting Gallen’s chances of tossing his first career no-hitter was an odd blemish in the 2nd inning when, after getting two quick outs, he lost his ability to find the strike zone. Eating up 19 pitches, Gallen issued three straight two-out walks. Although he did strikeout Curt Casali to prevent any damage, Gallen threw a whopping 33 pitches in an inning where not a single ball left the infield.
After the game, manager Torey Lovullo spoke with Todd Walsh about Gallen’s performance. “Six no-hit innings—it was really, really good, especially after he overcame that little speed bump. Credit to him for finding his command again. He got stubborn and did his job, leaving the mound with the lead.”
When asked about his conversation with Gallen after the 6th inning, Lovullo explained, “He knew there was no chance for a no-hitter. I told him, ‘If you were at 70 pitches, we’d be having a different conversation.’ He understood that. There was no way I was letting him throw 145 pitches.” Lovullo added, “We went back and forth about his demeanor, his body language, and how he was holding up.”
On the offensive side of the Diamondbacks’ 6-4 win, Lovullo acknowledged the team missed several scoring opportunities. Giants rookie pitcher Hayden Birdsong issued five walks, and the Giants gave up eight free bases overall, but the Diamondbacks went just 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position. “We could have scored more runs,” Lovullo said. “We left some traffic out there. Situationally, we weren’t perfect, but we did enough in the right moments to win the game.”
A key at-bat that stood out to Lovullo was Jose Herrera’s squibber down the line in the 8th inning with one out. Though not hit hard, it allowed Pavin Smith to score, extending Arizona’s lead to three runs. “Jose scratching across that groundball to first, giving us that run, was a defining moment,” Lovullo said.
