SAN FRANCISCO — Zac Gallen pitched six hitless innings for his 50th career win and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Francisco Giants 6-4 on Wednesday night.
Gallen (11-6) had eight strikeouts, turned 63 of 100 pitches into strikes and overcame four walks to win for the second time in six starts.
“I stuck to my plan for the most part,” Gallen said. “I felt like everything went pretty well. I felt pretty in control for the most part. Even the pitches in the second (inning) that resulted in walks were pretty close to what I wanted to accomplish.”
Eugenio Suárez and Pavin Smith hit solo home runs to help the Diamondbacks (79-61) move to within five games of the leading Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. Arizona holds the second NL wild-card spot.
LaMonte Wade Jr. hit a home run and had four RBIs for the Giants. The game drew 22,855 fans to Oracle Park, the lowest attendance of the season.
Gallen struggled for nearly a month, posting a 4.94 ERA in five starts in August before troubling the Giants. The 29-year-old right-hander got into a few fouls but was able to extricate himself each time.
Gallen loaded the bases with two outs in the second inning and then took out Curt Casali with a swinging strikeout. The Giants’ Mike Yastrzemski initially allowed a walk in the sixth inning, but Gallen got Heliot Ramos to make a double play and struck out Michael Conforto.
“He was very stubborn and did his job,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “This is a game of adjustments and once he figured it out, knew a little bit about the game plan and their strategy, he got really stubborn and started occupying the zone really well.”
Because Gallen’s pitch count was so high early on, Lovullo made it clear that he had no intention of letting the starting pitcher play much longer than he did.
“He knew he had no chance of throwing a no-hitter,” Lovullo said. “There’s no way I would have let him throw 145 pitches to throw a no-hitter. That’s never going to happen here.”
The Giants didn’t get their first hit until Gallen was gone. Tyler Fitzgerald hit a single against reliever Kevin Ginkel in the seventh inning and then scored on Wade’s sixth home run of the season.
Ginkel allowed two runs and struck out three batters, AJ Puk struck out the team in the eighth inning. Justin Martinez allowed two runs in the ninth inning before retiring Brett Wisely with a swinging strikeout.
Suárez hit a home run in the second inning against Giants starter Hayden Birdsong. Suárez also hit a double in the eighth inning and narrowly missed a home run when the ball caught the top of the center field fence.
“Situationally we weren’t perfect, but we did enough at the right time in the right situations to win the game,” Lovullo said.
Smith ended a two-month home run drought with a solo hit against Spencer Bivens in the fifth inning.
The Diamondbacks started the game with two consecutive walks against Birdsong and then took the lead with one out on Josh Bell’s RBI single.
Birdsong (3-5) struggled with control issues and lasted just three innings. The rookie had a season-high five walks and allowed two runs while throwing 77 pitches.
Corbin Carroll opened the game for the Diamondbacks with a four-pitch walk, extending his franchise record for reaching base to 43 consecutive games.
CHAPMAN’S CONTRACT
Giants third baseman Matt Chapman agreed to a six-year, $151 million contract for 2025-30 on Wednesday, forgoing the chance to become a free agent after the season, and will receive a $1 million signing bonus that will be paid next year and annual salary of $25 million.
TRAINING ROOM
Diamondbacks: 2B Ketel Marte (sprained left ankle) ran a little before the game and manager Lovullo said he expects the veteran infielder to come off the injured list at some point during the team’s current road trip. Marte has been on the injured list since Aug. 19.
Giants: Chapman was originally in the lineup but was replaced so he could get more rest. … LHP Robbie Ray (left hamstring strain) was at catcher before the game.
Next
In the series finale on Thursday, Diamondbacks RHP Merrill Kelly (4-0, 4.30) will face Giants LHP Blake Snell (2-3, 3.56).
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