Zac Gallen’s search for consistency will continue when the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks look to clinch their four-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday.
In his most recent start, Gallen (3-6, 6.10 ERA) was roughed up in a 16-8 home loss against the Minnesota Twins. The veteran right-hander was tagged for nine runs on 12 hits with two walks and two strikeouts over four innings.
“Zac is grinding,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “He’s lacking the consistency that has been a really big part of his game. Every fifth day, he’s very dependable … he needs to get out there, throw a quality game for us and help us win a game. That’s the mindset we are going to have. He’s got to get the ball over the plate and he’s got to attack.”
Gallen has made four career starts against the Cardinals and has a 1-2 record with a 3.91 ERA. He has 25 strikeouts in 23 innings to go along with 10 walks.
Prior to struggling against the Twins, Gallen turned in a solid outing on June 14, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out four over six innings against the Cincinnati Reds. He did not factor into the decision in Arizona’s 5-3 victory.
Arizona hopes Gallen’s performance against Cincinnati proves more indicative of what’s ahead than his rough start versus Minnesota.
“I thought I had a decent outing in Cincinnati and had turned it in the right direction,” Gallen said. “I was making really good pitches with really good stuff.”
The Diamondbacks cruised to a 9-4 win on Wednesday, with LuJames Groover launching his first career homer while going back-to-back with Ketel Marte.
Marte’s 13th home run of the season was a 416-foot solo shot that capped Arizona’s six-run fourth inning.
St. Louis, on Thursday, will turn to right-hander Michael McGreevy (3-6, 3.35), who is making his first career appearance against Arizona.
Last Friday, McGreevy took the loss as he gave up five runs on eight hits with a walk and two strikeouts in five innings in a 6-5 setback at the Kansas City Royals.
McGreevy is 0-4 over his past seven starts and is searching for his first victory since May 8.
While the Cardinals trailed 9-2 heading into the ninth, they managed to make some noise with a pair of runs. Jose Fermin launched a solo home run and Lars Nootbaar tripled and scored on Blaze Jordan’s RBI single.
With an even-keeled attitude, McGreevy said St. Louis has the ability to bounce back.
“That’s why you can’t get too high or too low,” McGreevy said. “It’s always funny how people are talking about playoffs in June, or even May. It has been great vibes with this ballclub.”
Because Matthew Liberatore labored through 5 1/3 innings in Wednesday’s loss, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said the St. Louis’ bullpen will be better rested as the team goes for a series split.
“We can’t continue to just tax the ‘pen, based on not going deep into games,” Marmol said. “There will be weeks where it flip-flops and the starters are good and that’s just baseball. But our bullpen has been used pretty heavily.”
–Field Level Media
