Well, we live to fight another day. After last night’s bullpen implosion against the team with the second best record in the major leagues, Zac Gallen took the mound tonight to try to help us even things up. Aaron Nola was his opposite number, and while Gallen really was trash for the first three or four months of the season, Nola had actually been worse, so this one certainly seemed winnable. Especially if Good Gallen showed up.
He didn’t, sadly. Two batters and six pitches into the game, we were
already down by a run; by the time the top of the first was over, we were down by two. In fairness to Gallen, he walked the leadoff hitter on four pitches, and then gave up a double to Kyle Schwarber, but he really did settle down after that. A one-pitch ground ball out to Bryce Harper got Schwarber to third, and a JT Realmuto fly ball to center allowed him to score. 2-0 Philadelphia
We got one run back right away, thanks to Geraldo Perdomo leading off the home half with one of the more deeply silly doubles I’ve seen in recent times:
Ketel Marte advanced him to third by grounding out to first, and Corbin Carroll drove him home with a single to right. Sadly, though, there was no more, as Gabriel Moreno grounded into a double play to end the inning. 2-1 Philadelphia
We got the second run back in the bottom of the third, thanks to a Jake McCarthy leadoff double and a one-out RBI single by Marte. 2-2 TIE
Gallen had broadly settled down by now—he pitched around a leadoff single in the top of the second, and retired the top of the Phillies lineup in order in the top of the third. He quickly recorded the first two outs in the fourth, bringing his streak to eight batters in a row retired before he left a knuckle curve hanging in the middle of the zone that Alec Bohm teed off on and drove into the left-field bleachers. 3-2 Philadelphia
He put up another zero in the fifth, but then Nola had settled down as well, and put up zeroes of his own. Nola came out to start the bottom of the sixth, and quickly retired Moreno on his third infield grounder of the night. Blaze Alexander, though, drove the first pitch Nola threw him high up off the wall just to the right of straightaway center for an easy double. James McCann, who’s become Zac Gallen’s concierge catcher at this point, followed with a double of his own, this one in the gap in right center that rolled to the wall. Blaze scored easily, and Nola got the hook, making way for lefty Tanner Banks. With a lefty coming in and Alek Thomas coming to the plate, Torey Lovullo countered by sending in Tim Tawa to pinch hit. Tawa hung an eight-pitch at bat on Banks, but ultimately struck out, leaving it up to Ildemaro Vargas to try to give us the lead with two outs. Vargas, perhaps having recognized that there was a fire sale going on for bloop singles, delivered one to shallow left to bring home McCann:
McCarthy then singled to left, and Perdomo walked to load the bases, but Ketel Marte struck out to end things before we could tack on any more runs. 4-3 D-BACKS
And that there is pretty much your ballgame. Gallen pitched a clean sixth, and came out to pitch the seventh, having only thrown 81 pitches at that point. It wound up being a bit of a nail-biter, as a two-out error by Blaze Alexander followed by a walk put runners on first and second and Gallen’s pitch count at 99, but Torey left him in as the Phillies lineup turned over, and he was rewarded as Zac induced an inning-ending groundout on his 103rd pitch of the night.
Brandyn Garcia recorded the first two outs in the eighth, Ryan Thompson got the third out, and John Curtiss, your closer du jour, took the ball for the ninth and, despite a two-out single, managed to record the final out and become the 17th Diamondback this season to record a save.
Win Probability Added, courtesy of FanGraphs
Goats among Men: John Curtissssssssss (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 S, +16.5% WPA), Ildemaro Vargas (4 AB, 2 H, 1 RBI, +15.8% WPA), James McCann (3 AB, 1 H, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K, +14.2% WPA), Ryan Thompson (1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R,, +12.2% WPA)
Honorable Mention: Zac Gallen (7 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, 1 HR, 103 pitches, +8.2% WPA)
It was a rather quiet Gameday Thread for a Saturday night, with 202 comments at time of writing. By popular acclaim and because it gives a lovely insight into the character of Aaron Nola, tonight’s losing pitcher, Comment of the Game goes to Diamondhacks:
So once again we go into a weekend series finale looking to take the rubber match and secure another series win. ERod goes for us, Ranger Suarez goes for them, it’s gonna be a battle of lefties and Suarez is definitely a tough customer. Hope you can join us as we try to get this ramshackle jalopy that is the 2025 Arizona Diamondbacks a little bit closer to that postseason finish line. Only seven games to go, so we’re rapidly running out of baseball. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10pm AZ time. Be there, or be….well, somewhere else, I suppose.
As always, thanks for reading, and as always, go Diamondbacks!
