KANSAS CITY -- It didn’t come easily, but Zac Gallen’s scoreless streak is still alive.

With the aid of his team’s perfectly executed relay play in the third inning that saved a run, the D-backs right-hander went six scoreless innings Wednesday night against Kansas City at Kauffman Stadium. Gallen departed with a 1-0 lead, but the Arizona bullpen gave up five runs in the seventh as the Royals rallied for a 5-3 victory to earn a split in the two-game series

Gallen will make his next start having not allowed a run over his last 27 1/3 innings. That’s the second longest scoreless streak in D-backs history, behind Brandon Webb’s 42-inning streak in 2007. Gallen was making his career-high 24th start on Wednesday and manager Torey Lovullo decided not to push it after watching him throw 95 pitches.

Gallen allowed three hits and outdueled Kansas City’s Brady Singer, who was stung by Daulton Varsho’s solo homer to right in the fifth. But the bullpen has been an issue for Arizona in recent days, and was again as Bobby Witt Jr. capped the Royals' five-run uprising in the seventh with a three-run homer.

The late rally didn’t lessen the achievement for Gallen, who hasn’t allowed a run since his Aug. 2 start against Cleveland. His outing on Wednesday ensured the streak will last for at least another five days.

“It’s good and bad,” Gallen said. “If you let it get too big and control you too much, it can be a problem. I kind of felt that in the first couple of innings.”

For a few frantic seconds in the bottom of the third, it appeared the scoreless streak was about to snap. With MJ Melendez at first and running on the pitch, Salvador Perez stroked a hit to left-center. Alek Thomas reached the ball quickly and got it to the relay man in Sergio Alcántara. Melendez never hesitated rounding third, but Alcántara delivered a strike to the plate and Carson Kelly applied a quick tag.

As he watched the bang-bang play unfold, Gallen figured his streak might be over.

“That’s what you are thinking,” Gallen said. “The grass is slow out there. Alek made a great play to come in and throw it to Sergio. And Sergio has a rocket. I knew if we could get it to him in time, [Alcántara] would at least make a good throw.”

In the fifth, the Royals had men at first and third with one out. But Gallen struck out Melendez and got Witt Jr. on a flyout to keep Kansas City off the board.

“We relied on Zac, and he did exactly what we thought he would do,” Lovullo said. “We were budgeting to win the game 1-0. We were going to turn it over to the bullpen and shorten the game that way. It just didn’t work out.”

In the seventh, Alcántara failed to field a quick-hop grounder by Kyle Isbel and the D-backs later allowed the tying run on a safety squeeze bunt. That opened the door for the Royals' five-run inning.

Even though Christian Walker hit his career-high 30th homer in the ninth, it was too little and too late.

“My knee-jerk reaction is we could have done some things differently to create a totally different environment in that seventh inning,” Lovullo said. “We didn’t execute in some crucial situations.”