The Los Angeles Dodgers struggled to find success against Zac Gallen before rallying against the Arizona Diamondbacks bullpen and coming away with a walk-off win thanks to Mookie Betts.
Just like Madison Bumgarner from the night prior, Gallen was perfect one time through the Dodgers lineup. He then retired the first two batters in the fourth inning before Will Smith’s fly ball to left field dropped in front of Stone Garrett’s sliding catch attempt and rolled to the wall for a triple.
“He was making pitches. He’s got a good fastball and curveball, and throws a cutter in there,” Smith said after the Dodgers’ 3-2 win. “He was just making pitches, keeping us off balance and kind of stalled us for a little bit.”
Smith’s triple was followed by Max Muncy’s line drive skipping off Emmanuel Rivera’s glove and landing fair down the right-field line for a game-tying RBI double.
Those were the only hits Gallen allowed as he set a career high with 13 strikeouts over eight innings.
“He’s really good. He’s got multiple plus-pitches and he commands all of them. He works both sides of the plate and he’s not afraid to throw the same pitch seven, eight, nine times in a row,” Muncy said.
“I think there were a lot of at-bats where we had guys thinking he was going to come off that pitch, and he never did. It’s plus-command, plus-pitches, and he’s just really good. I was just basically trying to battle.
“I was trying to get something up in the zone, and he threw me a bunch of curveballs. I was able to get the barrel to it on a cutter up and in, and got rewarded with the first baseman tipping it.”
Much of Gallen’s dominance came against the bottom of the Dodgers lineup, as Joey Gallo, Gavin Lux, Trayce Thompson and Cody Bellinger went a combined 0-for-11 with 10 strikeouts off the right-hander.
Dave Roberts glad to not face Zac Gallen again in 2022
Thursday’s game was the final meeting this season between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks. Gallen finished without a decision in two starts against the Dodgers, but pitched to a 0.64 ERA and had 18 strikeouts over 14 innings in those outings.
“It was a great win. Considering how well Gallen threw the baseball, I don’t think anyone was going to score runs off of him,” Roberts said.
“Really fun to watch him pitch. He just was in complete control, domination. It’s an elite fastball. It’s kind of crossfire and bores in on the lefties, plays up, he can pitch to the glove side with the cutter, he can go arm side. He was striking the breaking ball early and shortening when he needed to.
“We just didn’t have an answer for him. I think the one ball we hit hard all night was Trayce when he lined out to center field. Will snuck in a triple, Muncy battled and kept a cutter fair. He’s fun to watch, but I’m glad we don’t see him again this year.”
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