Gallen making progress, even after a costly miss for ABS

ST. PETERSBURG -- If you look at just the final score, you would think that Zac Gallen did not pitch well in a 6-1 loss to the Rays on Friday night.

Dig a little deeper, though, and you'll find that it was a clear step forward for the Diamondbacks right-hander as he tries to recapture the form that made him one of the game's better pitchers only a few seasons ago.

Let's get his line out of the way first: 6 2/3 innings pitched, five runs, two walks, no strikeouts.

Now, let's take a closer look at what happened.

After a Geraldo Perdomo homer gave him a one-run lead in the top of the first, Gallen opened the bottom of the first with a walk to Yandy Díaz. He then hit Jonathan Aranda with a pitch before Junior Caminero blasted a high fastball to center field to make it 3-1 Rays.

Caminero, though, shouldn’t have had the opportunity to hit the home run.

With a 1-2 count on Caminero, Gallen perfectly executed a slider that clipped the bottom corner of the strike zone for strike three. Home plate umpire Chad Fairchild, however, called it a ball and the Diamondbacks didn't use one of their ABS challenges on the pitch.

Diamondbacks pitchers are discouraged from challenging pitches as the team prefers that they leave it up to the catchers, who have a better perspective.

Gallen challenged a pitch earlier this year and got it wrong, so he wasn't going to go against the team’s guidance this time.

"I wanted to challenge it, but we save that just for the catchers," Gallen said. "I challenged one earlier in the year, and I wasn't right, so I didn't want to be wrong for a second time. So, yeah, in my eyes it was a strike, but as a pitcher, you think everything is a strike."

After the homer, Gallen went into lockdown mode, retiring 15 straight hitters.

Through six innings, he had allowed just three runs and had 72 pitches when manager Torey Lovullo elected to send him out for the seventh.

"I had thoughts about getting him off the field with a quality start at six [innings] and three [runs] but Zac doesn't care about that,” Lovullo said. “He's not in this game for moral victories. He wants to win baseball games, so I was going to give him a chance to win a game. So, I want him, I want him to understand what he did well tonight, understand what he's got to work on, and continue getting better for the four days between his next start."

The Diamondbacks desperately need to get Gallen right, especially with the recent injuries to Ryne Nelson and Michael Soroka, along with the fact that Corbin Burnes’ return has been pushed back until September.

Gallen gave up a leadoff homer to open the seventh inning and was removed from the game after allowing a two-out double. The final run on his ledger was let in by reliever Juan Burgos.

It was a loss and not a pretty first three batters, but again, there was a feeling that progress was made.

"He did his job tonight," right fielder Corbin Carroll said. "Kept us in the game, gave us a chance to win, so I thought it was a step in the right direction, and he was the pitcher that we know he is, and know he will be for us."

Carroll made a bit of history Friday with his triple in the first inning. It gave him 53 triples in his career, surpassing the franchise record of 52 set by former shortstop Stephen Drew.