PHOENIX (AP) — Zac Gallen blew a 94 mph fastball past Christian Bethancourt to end the sixth inning and then let out a rare celebratory shout.
The Diamondbacks’ ace makes pitching look easy sometimes, particularly at Chase Field, but Tuesday’s outing was anything but smooth.
Corbin Carroll and Christian Walker hit back-to-back homers in a five-run first, Evan Longoria also homered against his former team and Arizona overcame Gallen’s uneven night to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 8-4.
“It’s just a testament to this clubhouse,” Gallen said. “Everybody’s trying to pick everyone else up.”
The Rays still have the best record in the big leagues at 54-28, but have lost six of their last nine games. The D-backs have won four of their past six.
Arizona scored five runs in the first off Rays starter Taj Bradley, starting with Carroll’s impressive three-run homer to center that hit far above the 407 foot sign on the batter’s eye. Walker followed with a solo homer that just cleared the left-field wall over a leaping Randy Arozarena, making it 4-0.
Gabriel Moreno’s sacrifice fly brought home Longoria to make it 5-0.
The Rays stormed right back, cutting the deficit to 5-4 in the second against Gallen, who struggled with his command. The first two Tampa Bay runs came home on wild pitches, Bethancourt added an RBI groundout and Jose Siri hit a solo homer.
“The ball was flying out,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “They had a bunch of guys hit home runs, Siri hit a big one for us. Generally, when you’ve got two good pitchers on the mound, you don’t see it that quick.”
Gallen’s struggles were a small stunner considering he came into the game with a 7-0 record and 1.00 ERA in 54 innings at Chase Field this season.
The D-backs recovered, pushing their lead to 7-4 on solo homers by Longoria in the third and Ketel Marte in the fourth. Longoria became the 70th player to homer against all 30 MLB teams after connecting against the team he played for from 2008 to 2017.
Longoria said the D-backs were more than happy to help out Gallen, who is one of three pitchers with 10 wins so far this season, joining Shane McClanahan and Clayton Kershaw.
“He’s picked us up all year,” Longoria said. “It’s pretty evident by his home ERA that he hasn’t had many struggles here.”
Gallen (10-2) would also recover from his rough second inning, giving up four runs on five hits over six innings. He walked two and struck out four.
It was a shorter night for Bradley (5-4), who gave up seven runs, including six earned, over four innings.
Tampa Bay’s Isaac Paredes had three hits, including two doubles.
LONGO VS. RAYS
Longoria played for the fourth time against the Rays and it was by far his most successful night against his former team, with two hits, including a homer, and a walk.
The veteran third baseman spent the first 10 seasons of his career with Tampa Bay, earning several accolades, including Rookie of the Year and three All-Star appearances. He also helped the Rays reach the World Series in 2008.
Longoria played his final season with the Rays in 2017 and spent the past five seasons with the San Francisco Giants before coming to the Diamondbacks in the offseason on a one-year deal.
Longoria played three games against the Rays while with the Giants and went 1 for 13 at the plate.
MAKING MOVES
Diamondbacks: RHP Merrill Kelly was put on the 15-day injured list with right calf inflammation and LHP Joe Mantiply was sent to Triple-A Reno. Called up RHPs Kevin Ginkel and Justin Martinez. The 21-year-old Martinez will be making his big-league debut.
UP NEXT
The teams continue their series on Wednesday. The D-backs send RHP Zach Davies (1-4, 7.82 ERA) to the mound while the Rays counter with RHP Zach Eflin (9-3, 3.35 ERA).
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
