Dip in fastball velocity? Gallen's already forgotten it

PHOENIX -- Since his last start in Detroit on Sunday, Zac Gallen has seen a lot of chatter about the velocity of his fastball being down and what that might mean.

“I think somebody said it raised alarms,” Gallen said. “Just silly articles, I guess. I think we can put that to bed.”

Indeed, Gallen’s velocity was back up to its normal range, as he allowed just one run over seven innings in the D-backs’ 5-1 win over the Guardians on Friday night at Chase Field.

In the days since the start in Detroit where his average four-seam fastball velocity was 92 mph, both Gallen and Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said the reason for the dip was that the game was played at an unusually early hour.

Gallen’s four-seam fastball averaged 93.6 mph on Friday, a slight tick up from his overall season average for the pitch.

“I told him after the first inning that he set an unbelievable tone with his fastball and just the command of that pitch, and I just felt his presence,” Lovullo said. “And the velocity was not an issue. I know we've been talking about that, you've asked me a lot of questions about it. Check it off. It’s off the board now.”

Lovullo often refers to Gallen as the D-backs' “stopper” or the starter they can always count on when they need a losing stretch stopped, and that’s exactly what Gallen did.

The D-backs entered Friday having dropped three straight games and didn’t want to see that bumped to four with Shane Bieber scheduled to start Saturday for the Guardians.

“He’s picked us up so many times this year,” Pavin Smith said of Gallen.

The offense, including Smith, did its part too, giving Gallen one run in both the first and second inning, which allowed him to pitch with a lead.

That was more than enough for Gallen, as he kept the Guardians off the board save for José Ramírez's solo homer in the fourth.

While Gallen was unconcerned about his fastball velocity this past week, he did spend time, as he always does, trying to perfect the feel for his mechanics and how the ball felt coming out of his hand.

Pitching coach Brent Strom encouraged Gallen to step a little more toward the third-base side of the rubber in his delivery, which keeps his shoulder closed a little longer and prevents him from flying open.

That adjustment appeared to pay dividends.

“I was kind of coming undone on my delivery,” Gallen said of why the adjustment needed to be made. “The ball was having a tendency to cut and didn't have the greatest life. It wasn't really creating great leverage. The longer I can stay closed coming down the mound, I can kind of force myself to create leverage. So I think I was more so trying to just exaggerate throwing over there [during my bullpens], so that way in the game, I might be able to find a happy medium.”

Gallen threw 95 pitches, 67 for strikes, and when he throws 30 or fewer balls in a game, that’s a sign for him that he’s got good command.

Of his starts this year, he ranked this in the “top third for sure” in terms of his feel for his pitches. That’s a pretty big statement for the perfectionist, who is always his own harshest critic.

“I was solid,” Gallen said. “I know I always say that I didn’t feel great, but the truth is I felt solid for the most part.”