Gallen's scoreless streak now 2nd in D-backs history

PHOENIX -- Zac Gallen said he didn't feel too comfortable during the first few innings of his start Tuesday night.

You would have a hard time convincing the Phillies of that.

Gallen added another seven innings to his scoreless streak as the D-backs beat the Phillies for their fifth straight win, this one a 12-3 victory at Chase Field. Gallen has not allowed a run over his past 34 1/3 innings, dating back to Aug. 8. It is the second-longest scoreless streak in franchise history behind only Brandon Webb's 42-inning run in 2007.

"He continues to stay locked in," manager Torey Lovullo said. "He's on a great run. He's working his butt off."

Lovullo decided to remove Gallen from the game after 88 pitches because at this point in the season -- with Gallen approaching his career high for innings pitched -- the manager was not going to push the right-hander.

Gallen threw 171 1/3 innings in the 2019 season (including his time in the Minors), a year he split between the Marlins and D-backs. He's now at 145 2/3 innings in '22.

"I think, when you can, kind of take that shot where you can say, 'Maybe we will save some pitches here and kind of manage [going into] September,'" Gallen said. "We have a pretty good schedule coming up, so I feel pretty good about that."

Lovullo told Gallen after the seventh that he wasn't going to throw more than 105 pitches. Lovullo said Gallen prefers not to start an inning if he's not going to be allowed to finish it, so he was in agreement about pulling the plug after seven.

As for the scoreless streak, Gallen admitted that in his previous outing against the Royals last Wednesday, it weighed on him, which was something he wanted to avoid Tuesday.

"It's definitely entered my mind," Gallen said. "I think I said last time in Kansas City that the first couple innings it was all I could really think about, and I think that gets to be kind of a vice. I kind of felt like I was making pitches not necessarily to get deep in the game, I was just trying to keep [runs] off the board.

"Tonight, I was kind of just like, 'All right, I've just got to make pitches. If I give up a run, it is what it is, it's supposed to happen.' I try not to let it consume me. I think that's the biggest thing. That's probably what I was most proud of tonight. It didn't really keep in my mind at all, just was like, 'It's a good lineup. If they get me, they get me. If not, let's make pitches and win the baseball game.'"

While Gallen tried to find a way to be more comfortable on the mound over the first few innings, the D-backs' offense did its part by scoring five runs in the second, one of which came on an RBI single by Corbin Carroll, who was playing in his second big league game.

Fellow rookie outfielder Jake McCarthy had a two-run triple in the second and hit a three-run homer in the fourth for a career-high five RBIs.

Gallen looked at some video after the third inning to try to make some adjustments on the fly in the fourth, which was when he really started to settle in.

"The offense just poured it on, so that kind of made my job a little bit easier," Gallen said. "It kind of took some pressure off."