ARI 5, MIA 4; Gallen and Jazz Both Flourish vs. Former Teams

MIAMI, Fla.—Fresh off receiving the National League Pitcher of the Month Award for April, Miami Marlin Pablo López took the mound for his fifth start of the season at home on Monday night against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.

Right-hander Zac Gallen was on the mound for Arizona, going up against his former team.

Gallen was traded from Miami to Arizona on July 31, 2019 in exchange for then-shortstop prospect Jazz Chisholm Jr. At the time, it was an interesting trade given that Gallen was well on the way to establishing himself as a Major League starter and Jazz, meanwhile, was hitting .202 at AA and striking out at an alarming rate.

A few years later, it looks to be a rare “win-win” trade. Gallen has established himself as a key member of Arizona’s rotation, and the charismatic Chisholm has blossomed into Miami’s every day second baseman

Jazz has stated in the past that when given an opportunity to face Gallen, he would love to take him deep. Alas, this was not to be, at least not on Monday night.

Things got off to a crusty start for López, who had been nothing short of dominant in his first 4 starts. The top of the first began with a booming double off the wall by Daulton Varsho. Two batters later, fellow Venezuelan David Peralta drove Varsho in on a home run to right, making it 2-0 Diamondbacks early. That was the first home run allowed by López this year.

López settled down after that, keeping the D-backs off the board until the fifth inning, when, after getting the first two outs, he ran into trouble. He walked Varsho, who then advanced to third on López’s pickoff throwing error and scored on a Jordan Luplow broken-bat single to right.

Luplow then stole his first bag of the year on a play that catcher Jacob Stallings thought should have resulted in an interference call on the batter Peralta. Interference wasn’t called, however, and Peralta later singled home Luplow, increasing the Arizona lead to 4-0 and ending Pablo’s night.

López’s final line: 4.2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 7 K. ERA goes from 0.39 to 1.61 (5th in the NL).

Louis Head entered the game and stopped the bleeding, throwing a scoreless 1 ¹⁄₃ innings. Richard Bleier pitched the 7th and gave up another run, making it 5-0 Arizona. Bleier is sporting a 5.68 ERA so far this season, having surrendered earned runs in three of his last four appearances.

Fish Stripes original GIF

The Marlins offense finally came through in the 7th, as three hit-by-pitches loaded the bases with two outs. Jazz came through with a two-run double off Diamondbacks reliever Noe Ramirez, scoring Avisaíl García and Garrett Cooper. With runners on second and third and two out, Jesús Aguilar hit a dribbler into the hole at short, reaching on an infield single and plating Stallings and Jazz, who scored from second to make it a one-run ballgame.

Unfortunately, Miami couldn’t push across that 5th run, and fell to the Diamondbacks, 5-4.

On a night that Pablo López didn’t have his best stuff, the bullpen did a swell job in giving the team a chance. Although the offense came alive in the 7th, it wasn’t enough to overcome the early 5-run deficit.

Don Mattingly’s Postgame Press Conference

Baseball Savant

After falling to 12-10 on the season, the Marlins look to even the series Tuesday night at loanDepot Park. Trevor Rogers will oppose Humberto Castellanos.