Arizona Diamondbacks' rally falls short, Zac Gallen sputters vs Cubs

Story by

Nick Piecoro, Arizona Republic

Fri, May 1, 2026 at 3:35 PM UTC ·

8 min read

CHICAGO — During games, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo normally remains on the side of the dugout nearest to home plate, but after the fourth inning at Wrigley Field on Friday, May 1, he ventured to the far side, where his players were descending the stairs. He had a message he wanted to deliver.

“Wake the (expletive) up!” Lovullo yelled, loudly and only a few feet away from Todd Walsh, the team’s television reporter, who recounted the moment on the broadcast.

Asked about his short outburst after his team’s 6-5 loss to the Chicago Cubs , Lovullo said he was glad to see his players claw back from a five-run deficit but remained bothered by the plays that put them in that hole.

“I’m proud of the way we fought back, but I’m still pissed,” Lovullo said. “I’m not going to lie to you. We’ve got to be better. We’ve got to do things up to our standard.”

The Diamondbacks remain a winning club, their record at 16-15. But the past week and a half have not been their best. Losers of seven of 10 games, their starting pitching, especially, has struggled. Zac Gallen kept that skid alive with a rough outing against the Cubs.

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen (23) throws the ball against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning at Wrigley Field in Chicago, on May 1, 2026.

Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ildemaro Vargas (6) forces out Chicago Cubs catcher Moises Ballesteros (25) at second base during the first inning at Wrigley Field in Chicago, on May 1, 2026.

Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo (2) hits a three-run home run against the Chicago Cubs during the sixth inning at Wrigley Field in Chicago, on May 1, 2026.

Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo (2) gestures after hitting a three-run home run against the Chicago Cubs during the sixth inning at Wrigley Field in Chicago, on May 1, 2026.

Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo (2) is greeted by second baseman Ildemaro Vargas (6) after hitting a three-run home run against the Chicago Cubs during the sixth inning at Wrigley Field in Chicago, on May 1, 2026.

Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo (2) is greeted in the dugout after hitting a three-run home run against the Chicago Cubs during the sixth inning at Wrigley Field in Chicago, on May 1, 2026.

But there were two plays that seemed seared into Lovullo’s mind as he spoke to reporters after the game.

The Diamondbacks allowed a run-scoring hit on a pop fly to shallow center, a ball that should have been caught. They gave up an extra base on a throw that went to the wrong base. Both of those plays involved center fielder Alek Thomas , who entered the day as, objectively, the club’s best defender this season.

“We talked about all the things that took place in our pregame, in our advance, and we just gave them extra outs, extra runs,” Lovullo said. “When you do that, you lose one-run games.”

Ildemaro Vargas extended his hitting streak to 27 games and finished with four hits and a walk in five trips to the plate. Geraldo Perdomo blasted a three-run home run to cap a four-run rally in the sixth. But the Diamondbacks came up empty in the final three innings, producing only one baserunner.

For Vargas, he now owns the second-longest hit streak in Diamondbacks' history, trailing only Luis Gonzalez's 30-gamer from 1999. It now is the longest ever hitting streak for a Venezuelan-born player, eclipsing Wilson Ramos ' 26-game streak from 2019.

Gallen needed 95 pitches to record 11 outs. He gave up six runs on seven hits and three walks. It was an outing that fell in line with the rest of the rotation in recent weeks.

Over their past 11 games, Diamondbacks starters have logged only 44⅔ innings. They have given up 50 runs, all of them earned. They have permitted 76 hits and 24 walks, which works out to more than two baserunners per inning.

In other words, it has not been pretty. And it has led them to lean heavily on their bullpen — and, in recent days, make regular roster moves in order to replenish it with fresh arms.

“We’re in the cycle right now,” Lovullo said. “Every team goes through it.”

The Diamondbacks entered the day with a rotation that had posted a 5.13 ERA through the first 30 games of the season. That ranked 13th out of 15 teams in the National League.

It is not the sort of results any club would want from its starters. It is especially troubling for a Diamondbacks team that has spent handsomely on its rotation.

The club currently has six starters on its active roster — the five in the rotation plus Brandon Pfaadt , who was bumped to a long relief role last month. It also has right-hander Corbin Burnes on the injured list and hoping to make a return in July. The six on the roster are making roughly $75 million. Add in Burnes and the number jumps to almost $110 million.

“I think it’s a combination of we’re just not executing and we’re playing teams that make you pay for not executing,” Gallen said. “By no stretch of the imagination do I think this is representative of the talent and the guys that we have in this clubhouse — on all sides of the ball.”

Lovullo had reason to be upset about the fundamental mistakes. The Cubs already had two runs home in the first when Carson Kelly hit a pop-up to shallow center field. Vargas, the second baseman, drifted back. Thomas ran in, came to a stop. The ball fell.

“I felt like he was under it, so I pulled up,” Thomas said. “And that just wasn’t the case. I think next time, just go after it and call him off. We just had a meeting about not giving free 90 feet and that was an example of a free 90 feet that ended up scoring, I think, a run. That’s on me.”

Three innings later, the Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong singled to center with a runner on first, then smartly headed to second when Thomas’ throw went to third. When the inning ended, Lovullo lit into his players.

“I know you’re down there and you heard me letting it eat a little bit with those guys,” he said, when asked about it by Walsh after the game.

“At that point, I need to get their attention. I need to straighten them up a little bit. It was unacceptable, what I was watching for the first couple of innings. It was everybody. You could include everybody. One through 26. They all needed to be tightened up a little bit.”

Lovullo added: “We should have probably given up three runs in this game today. We ended up giving up six. We’ve got to be better.”

It was 6-1 when the Diamondbacks rallied to get back in the game in the sixth. With two on and one out, Jorge Barrosa dropped a bunt down the third-base line that Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman did not touch in hopes it would go foul. Instead, it hit the third-base bag and kept rolling down the line, allowing Barrosa to leg out an RBI double. Perdomo then followed with his second homer of the season.

It wasn’t enough. Vargas followed Perdomo’s homer with his fourth single of the day, but the Diamondbacks finished the game hitless in their final 11 at-bats with a walk.

Brandyn Garcia back in majors after 'refining' pitch mix

Left-hander Brandyn Garcia was expected to be a key piece of the Diamondbacks’ bullpen from the start of the season, but control issues in spring training cost him a spot on the Opening Day roster.

He is back in the majors — and he says his strike-throwing is in a much better place.

“Beginning of the year, end of spring training, not so much,” he said. “I feel like I’m in a good spot now and I’m excited to get out there.”

Garcia cited a couple of reasons to explain his inconsistent command. For one, he said he was adjusting to throwing a new cutter, a pitch he is throwing this year instead of the slider he featured last year. He said he also needed some time to get the feel back on his sinker, his primary fastball.

He said he issued some walks early in his tenure in Triple-A Reno as he worked to find the feel for his pitches.

“Early on, it was one of those things where I was treating it like an extended spring training,” Garcia said. “I was still getting my feet under me a little bit. I’m going to walk some guys; that’s who I am as a pitcher. Trying to limit those walks is the biggest part. As the season goes on, I think I’ll get more confident, more comfortable and go from there.”

Moreno reinstated; Garcia recalled

Gabriel Moreno is back from the injured list — and the Diamondbacks’ bullpen carousel continued with another roster move to bring up a fresh relief arm.

Moreno was reinstated ahead of the Diamondbacks’ series opener against the Chicago Cubs on May 1. He has been out since April 10 with an oblique injury.

The Diamondbacks also recalled lefty Brandyn Garcia from Triple-A Reno and optioned lefty Philip Abner , who logged 2⅓ innings in relief in the April 30 game in Milwaukee . The club also had to use long reliever Brandon Pfaadt for an inning.

Moreno’s return is an important one for the Diamondbacks, bringing them a little closer to having their normal, everyday lineup together.

Before going down, he was hitting .275/.333/.400 with five doubles in 13 games.

Garcia gets the call despite not demonstrating the sort of strike-throwing ability the organization would like to see. He was optioned at the end of spring training in large part because he was issuing too many walks; he continued doing that in Reno, although not exactly to his detriment. In 12 1/3 innings, he walked 10 with 18 strikeouts while logging a 2.19 ERA.