CHICAGO -- James McCann trotted to the mound in the first inning Wednesday afternoon to talk things over with a pitcher he just met two days ago. The newly acquired veteran catcher was making his first start with the Diamondbacks in their series finale with the White Sox and was trying to settle down struggling ace Zac Gallen.
For a moment, it appeared McCann did the trick. Gallen shook off a rocky start at Rate Field, finding a groove and looking like he might have dodged a rough outing during a season filled with them.
Unfortunately, what progress that was being made between the new batterymates was undone by a hanging curve in the fourth. Gallen allowed a go-ahead, two-run homer to Lenyn Sosa that sparked the White Sox to a 7-3 win and prevented an Arizona sweep.
The result kept both Gallen and the Diamondbacks on their continued search to figure out what’s hindering their ace during such a turbulent season.
“I thought today was going to be a great day for him. That’s honestly how I was feeling,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “I think there’s one pitch per inning that hurts him. He’s going to figure this out. Zac’s too good of a pitcher. He’s too smart of a pitcher and too hard-working of a player to just let this go.”
Gallen has spent much of 2025 struggling to find the form that once landed him three top 10 finishes in NL Cy Young voting. The right-hander has had a few starts where it appeared he was returning to form, but building on that momentum has proved to be tricky.
Initially, it seemed as though Wednesday was going to serve as his latest difficult day on the mound.
Gallen needed just seven pitches to retire the first two Chicago hitters, but the next batter -- Andrew Benintendi -- chased a four-seamer above the zone and slugged it to right-center for a solo shot.
“The Benintendi one definitely is frustrating,” Gallen said. “I felt like I made a pretty good pitch above the strike zone, something we were intending to do. He just put a good swing on it.”
Gallen walked the next hitter, then allowed an RBI single from Kyle Teel. At that point, McCann sensed the need to pause the game, heading to the mound to give his starter a breather.
“That stood out to me,” Lovullo said. “He just had the presence and the experience that allowed him to go out there and say, ‘Look, I’ve got to slow the starting pitcher down and get him into a little bit of a rhythm.’ I complimented him when he came back in. I said, ‘That was a great mound visit.’”
Gallen proved as much by setting down seven of the next eight hitters he faced. McCann, who had a little over 30 hours to get acclimated with Gallen and whose familiarity with his arsenal was based upon the nine career at-bats he had against him, looked to have things back under control.
But two issues that have haunted Gallen all season long -- an ineffective curve and hard contact -- cropped up again in the fourth when Sosa clubbed a hanging breaking ball 105.5 mph over the wall in left. Gallen lasted just 1 1/3 more innings, allowing five earned runs on the day.
“The Sosa one, I just made a mistake,” Gallen said. “Just kind of one of those days. Didn’t really have much, just tried to battle, try to make pitches, see what I could do.”
The homer was one of seven batted balls Gallen allowed that had an exit velocity of at least 100 mph, all but one of which were hits. It reflected a frustrating trend for the 2023 All-Star, who entered Wednesday allowing the highest hard-hit rate of his career this season (46.7%).
Equally concerning is the trouble Gallen is having with his knuckle curve. He gave up just two homers off that pitch in 148 innings last season, but Sosa’s fourth-inning blast marked the sixth time an opponent has taken Gallen’s curve deep this year.
It’s created a pickle the 29-year-old is still struggling to work his way out of. Despite that, he’s yet to lose the support of his teammates, even one who just introduced himself on Monday.
“Just trying to get on the same page as him to see what I can do to help,” McCann said. “At the end of the day, that’s my job, find a way to make him better on the mound.”