Diamondbacks 6, Toronto 2: Grand Slam, Thank You….Corbin

Another Saturday game, another Zac Gallen start, another swirling bit of anxiety in the gullet as we waited to see which Zac we were going to get today. I remember the heyday of Gallen’s good times, when he really was the unquestioned ace of the rotation, rather than simply being the guy who happens to pitch for us on Opening Day. I’ve mostly gotten over the animosity I’ve developed for him over the last couple of seasons, but I still feel kinda queasy when I see that I’ve pulled a Gallen start for a Saturday recap.

Today, he was starting opposite grizzled veteran (and old friend for a brief moment at the very start of his career) Max Scherzer, who entered today with an ERA above 9, while Zac was enjoying a 3.60 ERA coming into this start.

It didn’t look great, honestly, in the top of the first. Gallen was being efficient—he got through the first four batters with only seven pitches thrown—but he was very efficiently throwing meatballs in the middle of the strike zone, which meant that three of the first four Blue Jays to come to the plate reached on singles into the outfield. The third single drove in Toronto leadoff hitter Nathan Lukes, putting us in an early hole. Thankfully, however, after that third single Zac actually seemed to buckle down and start to, you know, pitch. The results were much better after that, as he struck out the next two batters to end the frame. 1-0 Toronto

It turned out not to be the end of the world, though, because we got the run right back in the bottom of the first, thanks to a one-out Corbin Carroll walk that he capitalized on by promptly stealing second base on Scherzer’s first pitch to Geraldo Perdomo, and then Perdomo lining a single to center on the next pitch he saw to drive home Corbin. Lourdes Gurriel, Jr., back in the lineup for the first time since September 1 of last year, hung a pretty decent 7-pitch at bat on Scherzer before popping out to first, and Adrian Del Castillo saw another seven pitches before grounding out to first. But things were all tied up again. 1-1 TIE

After that, the game got kinda quite for the next few innings. Gallen pitched around traffic in each inning, giving up singles in the second, third, and fourth, and then a double in the fifth, but despite that he was quite effective, putting up zeroes and wrapping up the fifth with only 66 pitches thrown. Meanwhile, we were doing absolutely nothing against Scherzer, sitting down in order in the second, third, and fourth innings, while only making Shcerzer throw 31 pitches total to get through those three innings. Scherzer’s probably going to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot once he retires, but the dude is old and not all that at this stage of his career, but our hitters were making him look like he was back in his Cy Young heyday. It was disappointing, to say the least.

Thankfully, our young blood got things going again in the bottom of the fifth, as Jose Fernandez lined a single to left to lead off the inning. Nolan Arenado grounded out to short, but Fernandez alertly took second to keep from being doubled off, and Ildemaro Vargas popped out to first for the second out of the inning. Alek Thomas came to the plate, and promptly rolled over on the first pitch he saw, squibbing a grounder just over the first base bag that rolled to the fence about halfway up the first base line and ended up going as an RBI double:

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Ketel Marte continued his fruitless night at the plate with a first-pitch pop-out to shallow center, but we had a lead now. 2-1 D-BACKS

Sadly, however, Gallen and what feels like an increasingly frequent Perdomo miscue led to us giving the run right back in the top of the sixth. Toronto DH Eloy Jimenez singled with one out in the sixth, but Gallen immediately induced what appeared to be a 3-6-1 double play to end the inning. But no. Toronto challenged the out call at second, and the call was overturned because Perdomo’s foot came off the base before the ball was in his glove, so after heading back to the dugout he had to come back to the mound. As folks noted in the Gameday Thread, Zac often responds badly when the fielders behind him blow a play, and that was the case here, as he gave up a single that scored Jimenez and earned Gallen the hook. Ryan Thomspon came on and recorded the third out on three pitches, but our short-lived one-run lead was no more. 2-2 TIE

Nothing much happened for a little while after that—Gerry TOONBLANned his way into an out in the bottom of the sixth after singling to right and trying to stretch it to a double. Ryan Thompson and Jose Morillo put up a zero for us in the top of the seventh, we sat down in order against the Blue Jays bullpen in the bottom of the seventh, Morillo pitched around a one-out single in the top of the eighth to put up another zero for the bullpen.

Cue the bottom of the eighth. Jeff Hoffman, who I guess is supposed to be the Blue Jays’ closer—Maybe? Sometimes? He’s had five save opportunities so far this year, and have converted two of them, and he came on for the eighth, so who knows?—gave up a ground ball single to Ildemaro Vargas, then another ground ball single to Alek Thomas, and then he walked Ketel Marte to load the bases with no outs. Corbin Carroll came to the plate, swung at the first pitch he saw, laid off the next three to bring the count to 3-1, and finally got a meatball right down the middle that he did not miss:

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Perdomo, Gurriel, and Del Castillo then made three quick outs, but really, who cares? 6-2 D-BACKS

Because it wasn’t a save situation anymore, Torey Lovullo brought Kevin Ginkel out to pitch the top of the ninth, and despite a two-out single surrendered to Nathan Lukes, he did his job and put up the final zero. Yay.

Win Probability Added, courtesy of FanGraphs

Killer of Birds: Alek Thomas (4 AB, 2 H, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 2B, +21% WPA)
Harrassers of Birds: Juan Morillo (+15% WPA), Corbin Carroll (+11% WPA), Ryan Thompson (+10% WPA), Geraldo Perdomo (+10% WPA)
The Bird Whisperer: Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. (4 AB, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K, -14% WPA)

We had a nice, vibrant, very well-attended Gameday Thread tonight, with 307 comments at time of writing. The leading comment by popular acclaim belonged to chwalter, but it wasn’t game-relevant, sadly, so I’m giving this one to Snacks&DBacks, who posted the following right before Carroll’s big swing (plus an assist from Smurf1000, which I’m including because why not?):

And with that, it’s on to not the rubber match, but our chance to secure our second sweep of the season, as well as our second sweep against an AL team that went deep in the playoffs last year while we and our Diamondbacks were sitting at home watching them on TV from our respective couches. Ryne Nelson takes the mound for us, Kevin Gausman goes for the Jays. Gausman seems to be the sole competent starting pitcher Toronto has going for them so far this year, so it may not be easy to secure the sweep. But bring your brooms anyway, and cheer us on and help keep TheRealRamona company as she gears up for her first guest recap of the 2026 season! First pitch is scheduled for 1:10pm AZ time. Hope you can join us!

As always, thanks so much for reading, and as always, go Diamondbacks!