On a night when everything seemed to fall magically into place, the Diamondbacks secured a hard-fought 3-1 victory against the Padres.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Zac Gallen got the start for the D-backs, and he picked up right where he left off from his two previous starts against the Padres. Gallen maintained a remarkable streak of 18 consecutive shutout innings until the fifth inning.
The Diamondbacks’ ace would eventually depart in the seventh inning, holding a 3-1 lead and conceding just three hits along with a lone earned run.
However, his outing was far from smooth sailing.
As noted by Jessie Friedman, Padres’ hitters did not register a single ball with an exit velocity of less than 95 MPH from the fourth inning on.
Exit velos against Zac Gallen from the fourth inning on:
96.7
95.5
98.6
102
110.1
98.8
96.2
103.7
104.3— Jesse Friedman (@JesseNFriedman) August 18, 2023
And conversely, the Diamondbacks experienced a stroke of luck at the plate.
In the third inning, Gabriel Moreno poked a home run over the right field fence. The homer went 328 feet, making it the fourth shortest this season.
Neverthless, the Diamondbacks did get some gutsy performances from a worn-out bullpen to help secure their third straight win.
Following Gallen’s departure, Kyle Nelson delivered 1.1 innings of relief, striking out three batters. Subsequently, Justin Martinez earned his first career save despite encountering some tension by walking two batters in the bottom of the ninth.
With this victory, the Diamondbacks have clinched a three-game winning streak for the first time since early June, a span of over two months.
Game two of their four-game series against the Padres will be tomorrow at 6:40 PM. Brandon Pfaadt is scheduled to start.
