Zac Gallen outduels Sandy Alcantara as Marlins get shutout

Miami, Florida – Zac Gallen and the Arizona Diamondbacks blanked Sandy Alcantara and the Miami Marlins 5-0, snapping the Fish’s four-game winning streak. The centerpiece of the July 2019 trade that acquired Jazz Chisholm Jr., Gallen pitched nearly seven innings two hitting his former team while punching out seven helping the ballclub bounce back from the 3-2 loss on Jackie Robinson Day. In addition, the starters struck out a combined 16 hitters, 12 of them whiffs. Furthermore, all nine of Alcantara’s were swings and misses. However, a bad sixth inning combined with no run support brought about a familiar result.

Sandy pitches around a double by Pavin Smith. Alcantara K's two both of them swinging. Due up for the Fish: Chisholm, Cooper, Arraez#Marlins || #MakeItMiami pic.twitter.com/ddN5bI4oAE

— Gabriel Garcia (@Gabewritesports) April 16, 2023

Meanwhile, George Soriano made his Major League debut throwing three scoreless innings giving up one hit and fanning two.

Falling to 8-8, the Marlins will host the San Francisco Giants in another three-game set.

Besting the Cy Young

Arizona scored the first run of the game at the top of the second inning. Corbin Carroll got on base safely after Bryan De La Cruz committed a fielding error. DLC misplayed a routine liner in his direction, unable to wrap his glove around it. Consequently, Carroll made it to second on the play. What’s more, he scored from third on a base hit from Alek Thomas. It was later changed from an E7 to a double. Nevertheless, the run proved the only one they’d need.

Alek brings home Corbin and the #Dbacks lead early. pic.twitter.com/Wd6stcfExl

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) April 16, 2023

Despite having Luis Arraez back in the lineup after a day off, the Marlins were stumped at the plate. Further, their opportunities were few with chances in the fifth, seventh, eighth, and ninth innings. Still, none were taken advantage of. Jean Segura lined out to center and Jacob Stallings went down swinging on their first attempt with runners on base. After the seventh-inning stretch, with Jorge Soler at second, De La Cruz was called out on strikes followed by a technical strikeout by Avisail Garcia. Avi exited the game as he was seemingly struck around the wrist when the ball bounced off the knob of his bat. Jesus Sanchez pinch hit finishing the at-bat with a whiff. Then Stallings grounded into a rally-killing double-play in the eighth. Thereafter, Soler did the same to end the game.

The @Dbacks close out the Marlins with a double play! pic.twitter.com/zk7AaMdRZF

— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) April 16, 2023

By comparison, the Diamondbacks found their big inning in the sixth plating four. Josh Rojas got on base due to a catching error by Alcantara. Garrett Cooper stopped a hard-hit grounder but Sandy could not properly glove the toss allowing Rojas to advance toward second. Then, Pavin Smith drove him home from third with an RBI single to right field. Christian Walker knocked in another run with a double. Lastly, Corbin Carroll homered deep to center making it 5-0.

Blowing this game wide open. pic.twitter.com/xmo3SdVGnL

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) April 16, 2023

Looking back

This might be an unpopular opinion but I wish we didn’t trade Zac Gallen. Don’t get me wrong, I like Chisholm. He is both an electric player and a fan favorite. Despite being an everyday starter, his impact doesn’t match up to Gallen’s who folks see every fifth day. Granted, Jazz spent a huge chunk of the 2022 season on the IL. Here’s a snippet of Gallen’s performance since being traded.

Following this, from 2019-2021 his K/9 rate was over 10. It was 9.4 in 2022. The numbers don’t lie guys. We were looking for a bat and we certainly got one. However, Jazz’s best year (so far) is arguably the one he got injured hitting .254 with a .860 OPS. Still, Chisholm is only 25 years old. A lot of his career remains unwritten. At this moment though, it’s clear who the winner of the trade is. For 2023, he’s hitting .218 (.665 OPS) with a strikeout rate of almost 40% (39.3%) heading into today’s game. It’s a small sample size and it also doesn’t help he’s playing in a brand-new position partly due to the inability of the front office to acquire a center fielder.

Zac Gallen absolutely shoved.

6.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K pic.twitter.com/AZxzFq6ZLR

— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) April 16, 2023

Equally important, credit where it’s due, he’s getting better. Furthermore, if we turn back the clocks to a year ago, Jazz was slashing .286/.327/.674 with a 1.001 OPS at this point for 2022. Additionally, the strikeout rate was at 29%. This leads me to believe that there’s a possibility his numbers are down, at least in part, because Chisholm is focusing more on his new assignment. Although there isn’t a definitive answer yet on who won in this trade, the Diamondbacks are winning at least initially.

Photo | JC Ruiz