Gallen boosts D-backs' WC hopes with first career 9-frame shutout

CHICAGO -- Torey Lovullo was headed to see Zac Gallen in the D-backs' dugout after the bottom of the eighth inning. At the same time, the right-hander was headed to see his manager. They met somewhere in the middle and the conversation was brief.

Lovullo wanted his ace to give him one final inning, but he wanted to make sure, so he framed it as a question: How are you feeling?

"I feel fine," Gallen said. But there was a tone and a look to him when he said it.

“That’s my like, ‘Leave me alone, get out of the way,’” Gallen said.

With Gallen at 94 pitches, Lovullo told him he would give him three batters. So when Gallen issued a one-out walk to Mike Tauchman, he immediately turned and looked into the D-backs' dugout at Lovullo.

_You better not come out here_, the look said.

But Lovullo had no desire to move. He was going to let Gallen finish this one, and he did just that, retiring the next two hitters to notch his first complete game, a 1-0 win over the Cubs in a key series between two postseason contenders.

• Games remaining: at CHC (2), at NYM (4), vs. CHC (3), vs. SF (2), at NYY (3), at CWS (3), vs. HOU (3)
• Standings update: The D-backs (74-68) hold the No. 3 Wild Card spot and are a game ahead of the Marlins and Reds and three ahead of the Giants, pending the outcome of their games Friday night. Miami and Cincinnati hold the tiebreaker advantage over Arizona, as does San Francisco, but the D-backs can change that if they win the final two games against the Giants on Sept. 19-20.

The win was the third in a row for the D-backs and their second straight over the Cubs. Chicago currently holds the second NL Wild Card spot, two games better than Arizona.

The shutout was the first nine-inning complete game of Gallen’s professional career. He threw a complete-game one-hitter against the Braves on April 25, 2021, but that was the first bout of a doubleheader, with each game only lasting seven innings.

The last time Gallen went the full nine innings was back when he was pitching for the University of North Carolina.

And while the complete game was something he has wanted to record for a while now, what meant more to Gallen was that his performance came after two very uncharacteristic outings in which he allowed a total of 11 runs. Both of those games were Arizona losses at a critical time of the year.

“I feel like I’ve been grinding the last couple of weeks,” Gallen said. “I feel like I let the guys down [the] last couple times out there. These games here [against the Cubs] aren’t any more important than the last few, but it’s the team we’re tracking behind, so I just tried to go out there and do my job and put a stamp on it.”

Gallen also certainly helped himself when it comes to the NL Cy Young race, as well. Unlike last season, when his final starts of the year were in games that did not matter in the postseason chase, each one this month will draw plenty of attention.

Friday’s contest against the Cubs was the only day game, so his three-hitter with one walk and nine strikeouts -- which raised his record to 15-7 -- shouldn’t have gone unnoticed.

“I don't really follow what's going on around the league,” Lovullo said about the Cy Young race. “I follow our team, the team we're playing and the team we're getting ready to play. That simplifies my life a little bit. I know there's some guys that are having some good years, certainly. But like I said, the world was watching today. It was the only game on, everybody was tuned in and I think he made a big statement.”

That’s certainly true when it comes to the Cubs.

“He was really good, man,” Chicago manager David Ross said. “The wind knocked down maybe a couple of balls that might sneak out on a windy day, going the other way. But he pitched phenomenal. Kept us off balance. Attacked him early, put some hard swings, hit some balls hard on the ground at times. Just couldn't get anything going offensively.”