SUNNIER DAYS AHEAD
A beam of sunlight illuminates fans watching Tuesday’s game between the Diamondbacks and the Athletics at Chase Field in Phoenix. Arizona lost 7-5.
Zac Gallen returned from injury and pitched like the Zac Gallen he’s been since becoming part of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ starting rotation two seasons ago, but the Diamondbacks still lost 7-5 to the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday afternoon at Chase Field.
The A’s scored seven unanswered runs after trailing 5-0 through three innings, and sent the Diamondbacks (4-8) to their fifth loss in seven games.
Gallen was activated from the 10-day injured list before the game after dealing with a hairline stress fracture in his right forearm. He struck out eight, showing a lively fastball that touched the mid-90s in miles per hour and hard breaking balls that got swings and misses down in the zone, and allowed only one run on three hits in four innings.
Gallen walked two and left the game with his team
up 5-1, the only blemish being Stephen Piscotty’s solo home run on the first pitch of the top of the fourth inning. He threw curve balls with no hesitation from his healed forearm.
“Just tried to do my job and put up as many zeroes as possible,” Gallen said. “Some of my stuff wasn’t as sharp as I wanted it to be, curve ball, but I think that will come in time. That’s probably the most rusty considering I haven’t thrown it in about two weeks.
“As soon as the game started and I threw the first (curve), I just was like, ‘All right, we’re back,’ like a normal game. Just grip it and try to make a pitch.”
The A’s tied the game at 5 against Diamondbacks relievers Taylor Clarke and Kevin Ginkel, and took the lead against Anthony Swarzak in the eighth inning.
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said he was surprised to see Gallen start his season looking like the old Gallen. The 25-year-old was on a pitch count, and threw 83 for the day.
“Zac Gallen has some unbelievable gifts and he’s never sitting still, always trying to get better,” Lovullo said. “Last month he fractured his arm and now he’s out there competing on a very high level and looking very good.”
Before Gallen was done, the Diamondbacks offered him plenty of run support. Gallen opened the game with a walk to the Oakland’s Mark Canha and allowed some hard contact, but settled down quickly after that.
Carson Kelly’s three-run home run to left field, his first of the season, gave the Diamondbacks the early lead. Asdrubal Cabrera singled and David Peralta walked in front of Kelly.
Cabrera doubled in a run in the third inning, and the first three Diamondbacks of the inning reached base
against Oakland starter Jesùs Luzardo. Eduardo Escobar scored on Peralta’s ground out, and the Diamondbacks seemingly were in control.
Kelly said Gallen is a ‘huge part of this team.” On his home run, Kelly said he put a good swing on a pitch left out over the plate.
But things unraveled in the seventh inning, after Clarke set the A’s down in order in the fifth and sixth innings. Three straight singles, the last from Mark Canha, produced a run, and Ginkel came on.
He struck out Ramon Laureano, but Jed Lowrie jumped on a Ginkel fastball and lined it just over the left-field wall to tie the game.
In the eighth, Swarzak (0-1) came on and threw a 2-2 pitch down the middle to Seth Brown, who homered to right field to give the A’s the lead.
Swarzak has allowed four earned runs in 31⁄3 innings of work this season.
“Just a couple of tough innings late in the game wound up costing us. But that’s the beauty of baseball,” Lovullo said. “You can play six or seven really good innings and you blink and make some mistakes, and good teams are going to make you pay.”
Lovullo expressed confidence in his bullpen, which has struggled the past couple of games. Ginkel has allowed a run in back-to-back outings on consecutive days, and Clarke was charged with three earned runs.
The A’s added an insurance run on Matt Chapman’s run-scoring triple off the center field wall with two outs in the ninth off Yoan Lopez. It scored Ramon Laureano, who appeared to be picked off earlier in Chapman’s at-bat but Lovullo could not challenge because the time limit to call for a review of the play ran out.
Diamondbacks leadoff man Tim Locastro improved to 29 for 29 in his career in stolen base attempts, with a steal in the fourth inning.
The Diamondbacks put the tying run on base in the bottom of the ninth, but Kole Calhoun grounded into a double play to end the game and the homestand. Arizona opens a threecity, 10-game trip in Washington on Thursday.
“I wish I could go backwards and redo a couple of calls that I made, I’m sure all the players want to do the same thing,” Lovullo said. “So I’m going to reflect on that. We’ve got a long ride across the country.”