DBacks take two in a row against Red Sox, Tanner Houck looks to salvage a game in series
Zac Gallen hurled six innings of two-hit ball in his first appearance at Fenway Park on Saturday afternoon in the DBacks’ 4-1 win over the Red Sox.
Gallen won his 10th game of the season, striking out nine and walking four to reach double digits in wins for the third season in a row. He took a no-hitter into the fifth inning before Connor Wong singled to right field. He tossed 99 pitches before leaving with Arizona leading 4-0 in the seventh inning.
Gallen reflected on the moment being at Fenway Park following his start.
“I spent a probably good 10 minutes out there, just kind of looking and seeing. So it was it was a lot of fun,” said Gallen to reporters. Gallen once took a tour of the ballpark with his mother when he was in high school and took in a couple of games during his college years at the University of North Carolina.
“It’s fun to think about being on the mound with the guys that have played here over the last hundred years,” he said. “It’s fun to see ‘Sweet Caroline’ in the eighth inning. You grew up a baseball fan; those are things that kind of stick with you.”
Eugenio Suárez started the scoring with a wall ball off the Green Monster, giving the Snakes a 2-0 lead. Arizona would add two more runs in the seventh after Lucas Sims and Brennan Bernardino struggled to throw strikes and walked the ballpark.
Triston Casas went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts; three of them came against Gallen and one versus A.J. Puk. Casas struggled against Gallen’s knuckle curve, which was the culprit for winning two of the battles at the plate.
"My day was pretty self-explanatory," Casas told reporters. "You know, he was attacking the zone with multiple different pitches, just like (Ryne) Nelson was (Friday). Except that curveball was on. The metrics were up, and especially with two strikes, he was throwing a curveball that was starting as a ball, coming through the zone as a strike, and then ending as a ball. It's tough to make a decision on which ones to swing at, especially with two strikes, especially when he's getting ahead with strike one, especially when he's got runners on base and you don't want to roll into double plays and have inning killers.
"So, he just kept going to it, and he kept getting swing and miss for it. So credit to him. He was mixing up his approach as well. He was starting slow, then starting fast. He knows how to navigate a six-inning (start), three times through the lineup. That's why he's one of the best in the game. He was a handful today, for sure."
Boston will look to avoid the sweep and give the ball to Tanner Houck to try and salvage a game in the series finale on Sunday.
Houck has made 14 starts at home, posting a 2.94 ERA while holding opponents to a .233 batting average. He has made one career start versus the DBacks, which came last season; he is 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA, only tossing four innings while giving up four runs off six hits and walking four.
The Sox have lost each of his last six starts after going 9-1 in his previous 10. Boston is 12-5 in Houck’s starts where he strikes out at least five or more.
Tyler O’Neill returns to the lineup after missing the last two games with a right-swollen fourth finger on his left hand. He injured the finger in batting practice on Friday night.
Masataka Yoshida provided the only run in the loss on Saturday, connecting for an RBI double in the ninth inning. Since the All-Star break, Yoshida ranks fifth in the American League with a .345 batting average (38-for-110) with seven doubles, five homers, 22 RBI, 13 walks, and has a .979 OPS over that span.
Red Sox vs. Kelly: Triston Casas 1-3, Rafael Devers 0-6, Jarren Duran 0-3, Romy González 1-3, Danny Jansen 0-1, Tyler O’Neill 3-16, Connor Wong 1-2, Masataka Yoshida 1-2
Diamonbacks vs. Houck: Josh Bell 0-2, Corbin Carroll 1-2, Randal Grichuk 0-2, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. 1-6, Jake McCarthy 0-2, Geraldo Perdomo 1-2, Pavin Smith 0-2, Eugenio Suárez 1-6
Red Sox (67-61) lineup vs. the Diamondbacks (74-56):
Jarren Duran CF
Wilyer Abreu RF
Triston Casas 1B
Rafael Devers 3B
Tyler O’Neill
Masataka Yoshida DH
Connor Wong C
David Hamilton 2B
Ceddanne Rafaela SS
SP: RHP Tanner Houck (8-8, 3.01 ERA)
The first pitch is at 1:35 p.m. and can be seen on NESN, FuboTV, or Sling, and it can be heard on WEEI 93.7 FM.
