PHOENIX — Arizona Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen did not find the rhythm he enjoyed during his Yankee Stadium gem against the Baltimore Orioles on Monday, giving up five earned runs without escaping the fifth inning in a 5-1 loss.
He nearly limited the damage, despite walking two batters to load the bases with only one out.
A Cedric Mullins sharp grounder to second baseman Tim Tawa — playing his third career MLB game after Ketel Marte’s injury — appeared to do the trick, but Tawa did not field the ball cleanly and only recorded one out. Technically not an error on the box score, but yet another defensive misstep for this club.
“It’s just a play that’s gotta be made, plain and simple,” Tawa said. “I expect myself to make that play and I hope that everybody in that dugout, the coaching staff expects me to make that play. I feel bad. … I take full responsibility for it.”
Ryan Mountcastle followed with a two-run single to center on a slider below the zone, and Gallen left the game down 5-1 after seven hits and four walks. He threw 96 pitches, only 50 of which were strikes.
“Kind of odd from my standing,” Gallen said of his outing. “Didn’t necessarily execute like I wanted to mixed with I felt like they had a pretty good approach on trying to limit chasing out of the zone.
“It’s kind of tough to execute with command that I didn’t feel was up to standard. They made me work. … From a general standpoint, odd, not my favorite outing.”
Manager Torey Lovullo said he felt Gallen had enough gas in the tank to get one more batter, but the decision did not work out. Gallen said his slider to Mountcastle perhaps caught too much of the plate despite being well below the knees, and he would have preferred it further away.
Yes, Your Majesty. pic.twitter.com/9EuwOiwycF
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) April 8, 2025
Gallen last week in the Bronx delivered 6.2 shutout frames with 13 strikeouts and notably zero walks. He was dominant on the road, one of the best starts of his career.
The veteran starter felt he had much better stuff on Monday than his lackluster Opening Day start (4 IP, 4 ER), but too often he put himself in tough spots.
Regarding the missed double play ball, Gallen said, “ This isn’t about that. This is about me backing myself into a corner.”
The Diamondbacks continue to wait for their starters to string together quality outings. Arizona’s starting pitcher ERA through 11 games is a bloated 6.27.
The offense, meanwhile, missed out on the big hit despite showing some life early.
Josh Naylor led off the second with a double but did not score. Corbin Carroll hit a two-out double in the third and was stranded. Pavin Smith and Naylor started the fourth with singles, advancing to second and third with nobody out. Arizona managed one run on a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. sacrifice fly.
The Diamondbacks finished 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
Orioles starter Zach Eflin allowed one run on four hits with no walks in six innings of work, and Orioles pitching retired 13 straight D-backs hitters from the fourth frame until the eighth.
“Understanding what the person before you has done, the pitches he’s seen, just continue to drive up a pitch count for a starting pitcher and getting to the bullpen as soon as possible. That didn’t happen,” Lovullo said.
Diamondbacks outfielder Jake McCarthy went 0-for-3 and is now 0-for-22 to begin the season. He tied Domingo Leyba (2021) for the most at-bats without a hit to start a campaign in club history, per Stathead.
On a brighter note, Arizona’s bullpen put together another strong day of work, especially Ryne Nelson.
Nelson tossed three perfect innings, only needing 31 pitches. Ryan Thompson added 1.1 scoreless innings.
Showing support
When Lovullo took Gallen out of the game, he put his hand on Tawa’s shoulder.
“To keep my chin up, basically,” Tawa said of the message. “I was frustrated in that moment. You wanna make that play because it’s a pivotal point in the game, and I expect myself to make that. I do appreciate the belief.”
“I’ve been in that situation as a player,” Lovullo said. “You feel like you’re gonna sink into the ground and I didn’t want him to.”
Tawa ended up making some nice defensive plays, including an accurate jump throw.
The Diamondbacks’ defense as a whole has not helped out a struggling pitching staff all season, from seven total errors to missed difficult catches a plus defender is expected to reel in.
“When you get down to it, every play matters,” Lovullo said. “And I want us to live in that space and understand how important it is. I don’t want us to have to overcome big deficits because we don’t make a play or play smart baseball.
“We’re not winning the 50-50 ball.”
“The Orioles played a really clean game, and we did not.”
Torey Lovullo comments on tonight’s loss to Baltimore: pic.twitter.com/41sB83SQop
— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) April 8, 2025
Diamondbacks next game
The D-backs and Orioles continue their series on Tuesday at 6:40 p.m.
Right-hander Charlie Morton will start for the O’s against Arizona’s Merrill Kelly.
The Diamondbacks (5-6) will look to snap a three-game losing streak.
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