Zac Gallen shines at home as Arizona Diamondbacks stymie Colorado Rockies

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Arizona took care of Colorado on Tuesday night at Chase Field

Chance LeBlanc, Reporter

The Arizona Diamondbacks earned their third straight win Tuesday night by defeating the Colorado Rockies 5-1 at Chase Field, behind another strong outing from Zac Gallen.

Gallen tossed six scoreless frames, striking out seven, walking two and giving up five base hits to improve his record to 7-2 with a 2.72 ERA.

The Diamondbacks wasted no time Tuesday night, helping out their ace pitcher by getting on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning, when Ketel Marte extending his on-base streak to 28 games, with his eighth home run of the season.

In the same half inning, after a Christian Walker walk, Evan Longoria went yard for his seventh home run of the season, extending the lead to 3-0.

The Diamondbacks made more noise in the bottom of the fourth, but this time it was on the base pads.

Corbin Caroll was able to steal both second and third on back-to-back pitches, registering stolen bases Nos. 15 and 16 on the season. Gabriel Moreno hit a sacrifice fly bringing the rookie into score and increasing their lead to 4-0.

In the last two games against the Rockies, Arizona has seven stolen bases, and speed and pressure are elements that manager Torrey Lovello wants to utilize more.

“The right guys are on base and the opportunities present themselves, we’re ready to exploit things. Freeland is a really good pitcher, we win that game, it’s a good feeling. I think we create a little bit of a distraction and I think we put pressure on him via the stolen base, we’re going to take advantage of it for sure,” Lovello said during the post-game press conference.

Gallen’s curveball was on display in the middle innings Tuesday night, leading him to another impressive start this season.

Lovello decided to pull him out of the game in the sixth inning, with his pitch count at 90, which is his third lowest number of pitches thrown in a game this season.

Some critics feel Lovello may have taken Gallen out of a ball game too soon or left him in too long in the past, but it seemed like the right call to play it on the safe side Tuesday night.

“He started to get that curveball going, he got into that Zac-mode and we all become Zac-watchers. It’s fun for me to watch. I chose to take him out of the game at 90 pitches, just felt like we got enough out of him and the bullpen needed a little bit of work,” Lovello told reporters.

With Gallen out of the game, Caroll added more run support in the sixth with his ninth homer, stretching the Serpientes lead to 5-0.

The win improves Arizona’s record to 32-23, putting them 1.5 games behind the first place Los Angeles Dodgers.

They’ve won eight of their last twelve games and six of the last eight series.

The Diamondbacks will try to chalk up win another series win on Wednesday, with game three of four scheduled to begin at 6:40 p.m. at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Tommy Henry (2-1 4.50 ERA) will be getting the start for Arizona and Dinelson Lamet  (1-1 12.69 ERA) will start for Colorado.