Right-hander Zac Gallen struck out a career-high 12 batters as the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks salvaged a split of their four-game series against the San Francisco Giants with a 5-0 victory Thursday afternoon.
Josh Rojas and Jake McCarthy led a 13-hit attack with three hits apiece for Arizona.
Gallen (9-2) ran his unbeaten streak to 12 games with 7 1/3 innings of four-hit ball. He did not walk a batter en route to his third consecutive combined shutout, a stretch in which he has not allowed a run over 21 1/3 innings.
The 27-year-old bettered his previous strikeout best of 11 that he set in June against the San Diego Padres. He was so dominant, two Giants — Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt — attempted to bunt their way on base with two-strike counts, striking out when neither put the ball in play.
The Diamondbacks gave Gallen the lead for good when they used a bunt of their own — a sacrifice by Geraldo Perdomo — to move Sergio Alcantara to second base in the third inning. He scored on a Daulton Varsho single. Rojas doubled home Stone Garrett later in the inning to make it 2-0.
The visitors added a run in the fourth on an Alcantara RBI groundout. They knocked out Giants starter Logan Webb (11-6) in the fifth with consecutive RBI singles by McCarthy and Carson Kelly in increasing the advantage to 5-0.
Webb was charged with all five Arizona runs, just three of which were earned, on nine hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked three and did not record a strikeout for the first time in 70 career starts.
Noe Ramirez and Kevin Ginkel got the last five outs for the Diamondbacks, completing the team’s seventh shutout of the year, four of which have been started by Gallen.
Rojas and McCarthy each finished with a double and two singles for the Diamondbacks. Varsho, Garrett and Kelly added two hits apiece in Arizona’s eighth win in its last 12 games.
Evan Longoria had two of the four hits for the Giants, who were shut out for the seventh time this season, the second time by the Diamondbacks.
–Field Level Media