The Arizona Diamondbacks are off to a solid start to the second half, going 4-2 since the All-star break. 

They will look to keep the good vibes going as the 53-50 D-backs will host the 52-50 Pittsburgh Pirates. 

The snakes and pirates are both in a very tight wildcard race so every game in this series will be huge towards a possible playoff berth. 

D-backs ace Zac Gallen. (7-5 3.64) will be on the bump for the series opener tonight, and he will face the 25-year-old Dominican flame thrower, Luis Ortiz (5-2 2.57).

Gallen got off to a rough start loading the bases with Pirates right fielder Josh Palacios coming to the plate, Palacios would deliver lacing a 2 run single into right field to make it 2-0 Pirates. Gallen would do damage control and get out of the inning.

Gallen told Northeast Valley News after the game, 

“I feel like I made a good pitch to Palacios, he just had a good approach,” Gallen said. 

The second inning wouldn’t be much better for Gallen as Designated hitter Andrew McCutchen would line a rbi double over the head of Center Fielder Corbin Carroll to give the Pirates a 3-0 lead.

D-backs would answer back in the bottom of the third, after a Corbin Carroll leadoff triple, Ketel Marte hits a sacrifice fly into to left field to cut the lead to 3-1.

After a few zeros put up by both starters, finally in the bottom of the sixth Dbacks DH Joc Pederson hits an absolute moonshot 453 feet into the right field seats to make it 3-2 pirates.

A walk to the next batter Christian Walker that would mark the end of the night for Luis Ortiz.

Ortiz’s final line 5+ ip 5 h 3 er 4 k’s

That would not be the end of the sixth for the D-backs however, as catcher Gabriel Moreno would tie the game with a rbi single into right, and a wild pitch from Carmen Mlodzinski would score Lourdes Gurriel jr. and make it 4-3 D-backs.

After a rough start to the game Gallen was able settle in and give his team 6 strong innings.

After the game, manager Torey Lovullo praised Zach’s ability to bounce back from adversity.

“He’s good enough to train himself, he knows when it’s time to take a deep breath, get a feel for a certain pitch go back to it, get back in the dugout and just develop a little more confidence,” Lovullo said.

Lovullo would send out Gallen for the seventh inning, a decision that backfired as Gallen walked the first 2 batters.

Kevin Ginkel came into replace Gallen, Ginkel would set Andrew McCutchen and O’neil Cruz down on strikes, and then would get Nick Gonzales to ground out to third and get out of the jam.

“We have great teammates who come in the game like Kevin Ginkel, he executed an unbelievable gameplan and got us out of that mess,” Lovullo said.

Gallen’s final line 6+ ip 5 h 3 er 6 k’s

After Ryan Thompson took care of business in the 8th, the D-backs called on their closer, Paul Sewald for the 9th, Sewald got the first two outs with ease, but then gave up a 2 out single to O’Neil Cruz, It wouldn’t matter however as he would blow a fastball by Nick Gonzales and the D-backs win game 1 of the series 4-3.

Gallen collects his 8th win of the year, and Sewald gets his 16th save.

With the win, the D-backs move to 4 games above .500, and just a game back of the Padres for the third wildcard spot in the National League. 

Brandon Pfaadt will take the mound tomorrow at 5:10 Mt as the D-backs will look to win their 4th straight series.