PHOENIX -- Zac Gallen showed up to Chase Field on Monday afternoon sporting a hat that read “Don’t Trip,” a message that he was trying to keep in mind after his first two starts of the season didn’t live up to his exacting standards.

“I was just taking it as take a deep breath, relax and don’t trip [out],” Gallen said. “It was a reminder to myself of, like, ‘It's been two starts, you're on the right path, just kind of stick with it, it's gonna breakthrough eventually.’”

That breakthrough came Monday night at the expense of the Brewers.

In a vintage Gallen performance, the right-hander allowed just three hits while striking out 11 over seven innings as the D-backs won their fourth straight, 3-0.

“Today was all about Zac Gallen,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “I just thought it was one of those typical Zac outings that you just sit back and enjoy the ride because those are fun games for everybody to watch.”

In his first two starts of the year against the Dodgers and Padres, Gallen allowed a total of 10 runs (nine earned) in 10 2/3 innings. It was a two-start stretch that the D-backs were not accustomed to seeing from their ace, who finished fifth in the NL Cy Young Award voting a season ago.

While the D-backs and Gallen weren’t overly concerned by just two outings, Monday was a welcome sight for everyone.

“Always having a night like this is nice,” Gallen said. “It’s a confidence boost. I really wasn’t too worried about it, really. It’s two starts so far. Now it’s the third. I’m going to make maybe 27, 30 more of these. Just understanding it’s a long season and try not to worry about two starts. That’s why I wore the hat. Don’t trip. Everyone take a step back. We’ll put in the work and see what we’ve got.”

What Gallen focused on between his last start against the Padres in San Diego and this one was his delivery. Something about it just didn’t feel quite right over the first two starts.

“That’s kind of the main thing for me -- delivery, timing, tempo, just rhythm,” Gallen said. “All the typical clichés of pitching. But I think it’s just huge for me. I’ve just been watching video from last year, the beginning of this year. I kind of just haven’t felt 100 percent right. Little pieces here and there and things started to click. Just kind of talking to everybody here and getting tidbits of information, playing catch the last couple days.”

When he warmed up in the bullpen before the game, Gallen wasn’t sure about his curveball. It’s the toughest of all his pitches to judge in that setting.

“My eyes tell me it’s going down, but does it have that extra gear at the end that you’re looking for?” Gallen said. “You don’t really get that kind of feedback until a hitter steps in the box.”

Once a hitter did step in the box, Gallen realized right away that the curveball was going to be his go-to pitch.

“It was like, all right, let’s roll with it and make them hit it, essentially,” Gallen said.

And, well, the Brewers didn’t.

Of his 96 pitches on the night, a career-high 40 of them were curveballs. The Brewers swung at the pitch 19 times and missed 10 of them, and another seven were called strikes. Seven more curves were fouled off and only two were put in play.

“The game plan had curveballs in it,” Gallen said. “That’s the way it is. I think it just kind of felt comfortable. I’m a big kind of read the game, flow of the game, and see what the hitters are giving me. I felt like using the curveball was the way to go.”

Lovullo let Gallen go out for the seventh inning having thrown 87 pitches, but told him that was going to be it because if he got them through seven they would be in a good spot.

After he made quick work of the Brewers on nine pitches, Gallen joked with Lovullo about staying in.

“He came back in and he said, ‘Are you sure you’ve got a good game plan?’” Lovullo said. “I said, 'I got a really good plan.' We got this, it’s time for you to rest.” 

Yep, there was no need to trip.