Zac Gallen shines as Diamondbacks hand Pirates their 11th shutout of season

Zac Gallen has been unbeatable at Chase Field for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and the right-hander ran his home winning streak to 14 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Gallen tossed a three-hitter and struck out eight in seven scoreless innings, as the Diamondbacks handed the Pirates a 3-0 loss Monday night in the first game of a four-game series.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton pointed to Gallen’s ability to execute his four-seam fastball up in the zone, which generated three whiffs and six called strikes.

“He was really good,” Shelton said of Gallen (7-2). “He had execution of all three pitches – fastball, cutter and curveball – and then he mixed in some really good changeups in big counts to our left-handers. Overall, he was just really effective.”

Geraldo Perdomo scored an unearned run in the sixth to break a scoreless tie, and Ketel Marte hit a two-run single in the eighth as the Pirates suffered their 11th shutout of the season.

The Pirates turned to Tyler Beede for his second bullpen start in five days, filling the spot in the rotation created when Jose Quintana was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals.

The righty reliever fared better than his last outing, when he allowed four runs on five hits and two walks in 1⅓ innings in the 8-7 walk-off win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Aug. 3 at PNC Park. This time, Beede used a five-pitch mix relying on a curveball-sinker combination, and went 3⅔ innings on 51 pitches while allowing only a walk through the first three innings.

“He was in the zone. His tempo was way better,” Shelton said. “The last time out, it looked like he was a little rushed. I don’t know if it was because it was the first time he’d started in a while, but he looked like he rushed through his delivery a little bit. Today, he looked more like how he’s pitched out of the bullpen and just being extremely efficient.”

In the fourth, Beede gave up a leadoff single to Alek Thomas, who was thrown out by catcher Jason Delay while attempting to steal second base, and was pulled after Christian Walker doubled to the center field wall. Lefty reliever Manny Banuelos struck out Daulton Varsho to escape the fourth with the game at a standstill.

“That’s your job as a starter, really as any pitcher, to put your team in position to win,” Beede said. “Any time you can go out and set a tone and put up zeroes. Obviously, Gallen was pitching a heck of a game and threw really well and quieted the bats. Your job is to go out there and keep your team in a close spot to take a lead.”

Banuelos ran into trouble in the sixth, as a pair of Pirates defensive mishaps allowed Arizona to score an unearned run.

Perdomo led off by reaching on an error by third baseman Michael Chavis, then stole second base when first baseman Bligh Madris couldn’t handle Banuelos’ low pickoff throw. Josh Rojas followed with a bunt down the first base line that Madris fielded but missed a diving tag when Banuelos failed to cover first.

Banuelos got Thomas to ground into a 4-6-3 double play that allowed Perdomo to score, giving the Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead.

Gallen struck out seven and allowed only two hits – singles by Bryan Reynolds and Chavis – and one walk in his first two trips through the Pirates’ batting order.

The Pirates blew their best scoring chance in the seventh, when Reynolds drew a one-out walk but hesitated when Ben Gamel’s bloop fell in front of Thomas in shallow center and was thrown out by right fielder Varsho attempting to reach third base. Gamel was stranded at second when Chavis grounded out to third.

“I thought he made a good read on it,” Shelton said. “There’s one out, we’re not really doing anything offensively, so if it’s one of those things where Varsho has to make a perfect throw – and he ended up making a perfect throw. He’s making a perfect throw with Bryan coming in, so that ball could hit him in the back, could kick off and then all of a sudden we’re second and third. I think in a situation where we haven’t scored any runs and haven’t gotten any momentum going offensively, it was the right read. They just made a good baseball play.”

And the Pirates couldn’t get their offense going even after the Diamondbacks replaced Gallen in the eighth. Lefty reliever Joe Mantiply got pinch hitters Greg Allen and Ke’Bryan Hayes swinging.

The Diamondbacks loaded the bases against Yohan Ramirez in the bottom of the eighth, who got back-to-back batters to ground into forceouts at home plate before Marte smacked a two-run single to center for a 3-0 lead.

“We didn’t score,” Shelton said. “Even if we lose that game 1-0, we still didn’t score and we didn’t create a ton of opportunities to even score. I think that’s more what it came down to.”