Gallen’s career night ends with his first win and clinches Marlins’ series over White Sox
Zac Gallen had been steady through the first five starts of his major-league career with the Miami Marlins with one exception: He had trouble getting deep into games.
For as good as he has been — a sub-4.00 ERA, more than a strikeout per inning and almost twice as many strikeouts as walks — Gallen never made it out of the sixth inning during his first handful of starts.
Consider his performance during the Marlins’ 2-0 series-clinching win against the Chicago White Sox a breakthrough.
Seven innings? Career high.
Nine strikeouts? Career high.
Two hits? Career low.
Zero runs allowed? First time.
One walk? Ties a career low.
The win? Gallen’s first as a big leaguer and the seventh shutout victory overall for the Marlins this year.
In summary: A pretty good night for the 23-year-old Gallen.
“He was good,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “I was going to leave him out there until he gave up a run or ran out of pitches, whichever came first.”
So how did Gallen do it? He credits a minor mechanical adjustment — turning his lead foot inside to better line himself up on the mound.
He finished the night after throwing 95 pitches, 68 of which went for strikes. He induced 14 swinging strikes, nine of which were outside of the strike zone.
He escaped a third-inning, bases-loaded jam — created by hitting Adam Engel and Jose Abreu with pitches and giving up a single to Leury Garcia — by getting cleanup hitter Yoan Moncada to fly out to shallow center field.
“One I got through that,” Gallen said, “I thought I could navigate through the rest of the lineup.”
He worked around a Ryan Goins leadoff double in the seventh by striking out both James McCann and AJ Reed and then getting Yolmer Sanchez to ground out to third baseman Brian Anderson.
He dealt with one baserunner otherwise.
Gallen’s statline through his first six starts: A 2.76 ERA and 35 strikeouts against just 15 walks in 29 1/3 innings of work.
“You start to see the consistency,” Mattingly said. “He’s a kid that’s pretty good about his make up. He’s pretty easy going, but he’s steady. He already knows how to pitch to a game plan.”
His performance Wednesday built up his first start on the road trip, a 5 1/3-inning stint against the National League-leading Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday. Gallen held Los Angeles to two hits and a walk through his first five innings before unraveling in the sixth that day. A single and two walks through the first four batters that frame ended his time on the mound. Two of those runners eventually scored.
He picked his performance up on Wednesday even though it looked like he was heading toward another no-decision.
The Marlins (38-62) and White Sox (45-54) exchanged seven scoreless innings before Gallen finally received the run support he needed. Cesar Puello belted out a two-run home run 432 feet into left field. Puello made an emphatic bat flip before rounding the bases.
“I jumped right off the bench,” Gallen said. “Threw my hand up in the air. It was pretty cool to watch him crush that one. He smashed it.”
Puello’s thoughts on his first home run with the Marlins, one that snapped an 0-for-14 slump?
“I never stop working,” Puello said. “I keep working hard. I was focused in that at-bat. ... I made a good swing.”
Nick Anderson worked a scoreless eighth, aided by two big plays in center field by Puello. Sergio Romo earned his 17th save of the season with a scoreless ninth inning.
This story was originally published July 24, 2019 at 10:49 PM.
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