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Can Zac Gallen Get the Diamondbacks a Series Victory?
Apr 7, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen throws against the Baltimore Orioles in the second inning at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Fresh off a thrilling last-second comeback, as the Arizona Diamondbacks came back from down 4-0 with one out in the 9th inning against the Milwaukee Brewers to score five runs and walk it off. Now, they will go for the series victory which would be their second in a row and their third on the season. First pitch is at 1:10 p.m. at Chase Field on Dbacks.TV.

The Diamondbacks will look to finish their homestand on a good note and a victory while going 4-2 over the six games if they win today. That would put them two games over .500 and at 9-7 after a tough start to the season in terms of uniting their hitting and pitching performances together over a full 9-inning game.

Pitching for Arizona in hopes of securing that series victory is ace right-hander Zac Gallen, who's looking to get back on track after a rough last outing against Baltimore earlier in the week.

Gallen struggled with his command against the Orioles as he walked four batters for the second time this season while giving up seven hits and five runs with only two strikeouts. He just never seemed to find that groove like he did against the Yankees when he located masterfully and struck out 13.

After three starts and 15.1 innings, his ERA is an unsightly 5.28, but it's still quite early in the season to judge solely on ERA as a few strong outings could lower that extremely. His FIP is 3.77 and his xERA is 4.75.

Gallen's getting a lot of whiffs early in the season as his 38.1% whiff rate is in the 94th percentile in MLB, but he's doing that without inducing chase which a needed ingredient to rack up strikeouts. His chase percentage of getting hitters to swing out of the zone is just 23.4% which is in the 24th percentile in MLB.

He's not getting hit very much this season as the highest batting average on any of his pitches is just .235 on his knuckle curve, aside from a cutter that he's thrown just 11 of this year. His four-seam, sinker, knuckle curve, and changeup have looked fairly well.

The issue is slugging. Opponents have slugged .529 off that knuckle curve and .348 off the four-seam fastball. He's going to have to miss the barrel of the bat, which he's not doing. He's at a career-worst rate of allowing an 11.9% barrel rate. That's 4.5% higher than 2024. Again, though, this is over just a 15.1-inning sample size.

The other issue that Gallen must fix in order to be the starter that Arizona knows he can be and is is his location. His walk rate currently is career-high 11.6%, 2.9% higher than last year. That's affording too many base runners that create traffic and make it so that any single or double could cause a big inning.

He's not landing enough of his pitches for strikes and that has been on a downward trend over the last few seasons. In 2022, 65.11% of his pitches were strikes. In 2023, it went down slightly to 64.54%. Last season, it fell down to 61.99%. This year, it's just 56.07%. It's a small sample size and can easily be fixed this year but it is certainly eye-brow raising.

Thus, the onus this game for Gallen is to pound the strike zone, get weak contact without much slug, and limit the walks. If he can do that, the D-backs have a good shot of winning this game.

He's had success against Milwaukee in the past as over 46 innings, he has 2.74 ERA, 35 hits, 11 walks, and has struck out 56.

Opposing Gallen is right-hander Freddy Peralta. Peralta has had a stellar season thus far with 18 innings over three games and an ERA of 2.00. He's given up just nine hits all year with four runs, four walks, and 22 strikeouts. He's easily been Milwaukee's best pitcher.

Peralta has also found extended success against Arizona in his career, so it will be a test of mettle for D-backs hitters facing him. Over five games and three starts, he's 4-0 with an ERA of just 0.84 across 21.1 innings. He's walked 12 but allowed only eights while striking out 29.

Peralta throws a mid-90s four seamer 60% of the time, a 90 mph changeup 19% of the time, 81.0 mph curveball 14% and a 84.1 mph slider 7% of the time.

Lineups

Jake Oliver

It's nearly an all-lefty lineup with the somewhat surprising omission of Alek Thomas considering how he's done to start the season, and with a very tough right-hander on the mound. However, over his career, Peralta has had fairly neutral splits when facing either-handed batters.

The D-backs are playing the splits though and going with a left-handed dominant lineup in hopes of getting more offense.

Gabriel Moreno gets the day game off after a late night game with Jose Herrera getting the start. He's worked well with Gallen in the past so this could be a strong pairing.

The D-backs offense will look to do well in the early goings and attack Peralta before he gets too comfortable and so they can work from ahead in the game instead of needing to come back late in the game. Over his career, Peralta's first inning ERA is 5.83.


This article first appeared on Arizona Diamondbacks on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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