After early command issues, Gallen cruises in hitless start

SAN FRANCISCO -- Zac Gallen has experienced a career anomaly this year: He's been most hittable early in his outings. The way manager Torey Lovullo sees it, opponents have been able to get to the D-backs' hurler while he finds his footing.

Once Gallen got a feel for his stuff on Wednesday night at Oracle Park, he didn't let up, tossing six hitless frames and striking out eight as the D-backs secured a series victory with a 6-4 win over the Giants.

"Credit to him for finding the location of all of his pitches," Lovullo said. "He got very stubborn and did his job. He walked off the mound with a lead and won a baseball game."

With Gallen at 100 pitches after six innings, Kevin Ginkel entered in relief and allowed a base hit to his first batter, Tyler Fitzgerald, to put a quick end to the combined no-hit bid.

Gallen turned in a dominant outing after a laborious second inning in which he issued three straight walks with two outs, loading the bases for nine-hole hitter Curt Casali. Casali worked a full count -- the fourth in a row that frame -- before going down swinging.

"I feel like I had a pretty good feel for the command, for the most part," Gallen said. "Even the pitches in the second that resulted in walks, they were pretty close to where I was trying to go."

That second inning took 33 pitches to complete, with Gallen needing 27 to record the final out. From there, though, Gallen allowed only one additional baserunner the rest of his outing, issuing a leadoff walk to Mike Yastrzemski in the sixth before erasing him on a double play.

"Once he got over that hurdle and made some really good pitches to Casali to get out of that jam, he caught a real tailwind," Lovullo said. "Six no-hit innings, it was really, really good once he got through that little speed bump."

While giving up four free bases on the evening was far from optimal, Gallen's ability to keep the Giants' barrels off the ball was an encouraging sign, especially since he's had trouble early in games this season. Entering Wednesday, opponents had hit .325 (39-for-117) against Gallen through his first 25 pitches of a game and .225 (78-for-347) on pitches 26 and beyond.

"He makes big pitches when he has to," Giants manager Bob Melvin said. "Maybe not his best command tonight. He walked four guys and we had him on the ropes at one point in time, but he didn’t give up any hits, which means [he was in] all four quadrants -- in, away."

After Gallen got Michael Conforto to swing through a four-seamer for the final out of the sixth inning, he and Lovullo had a conversation in the visitors' dugout that appeared to indicate his night was over.

In the past, it would have been unthinkable to remove a pitcher with a no-hit bid in progress, even at the 100-pitch mark. Last year, Lovullo said, Gallen may have pushed back on the decision.

But with the D-backs bidding for a repeat trip to the postseason -- sitting in the second NL Wild Card spot and five games back of the Dodgers in the NL West -- there are more important things at stake than one night of September glory.

Heading into this season, the D-backs were already considering how to manage the workloads for their top contributors, Gallen among them. Between the regular season and the postseason, the 29-year-old righty covered 243 2/3 innings in 2023.

"I said, 'We can cut off some innings here and there and shave off some time on the mound. It's going to help you, long-term, for the good of this organization,'" Lovullo said. "I think about their careers a lot, too, not just the championship season. … It's very important [that] when we get together and have those discussions, they know why it's happening."

Last year's run to the NL pennant made it easier to frame those discussions with a viable end goal in sight. And now, with the postseason a flip of the calendar away, the priority now more than ever is the good of the team.

"Going out and throwing a 145-pitch no-hitter doesn't really do me any good when the next month, and hopefully the month after that, are more important than a no-hitter," Gallen said. "Maybe at some point in time, it will come with efficiency and I'll be able to finish the thing."