Opening day! The most optimistic day of the year where hope springs eternal from the fanbases of all 30 teams. The 49,070 Dbacks fans that showed up to Chase for opening day certainly had lots to be hopeful for in 2025 especially with their revamped starting pitching rotation. That rotation was much the topic of discussion this past week with the news that Torey Lovullo was going to go with Zac Gallen as the opening day starter after much deliberation. Unfortunately for Torey, Gallen, and Dbacks fans Gallen didn’t exactly live up to the trust from his manager on opening day.

Gallen had a relatively uneventful first inning aside from some uncharacteristically sloppy defense from the usually sure-handed Eugenio Suarez where he air mailed the throw on a routine groundball to 3rd base. Gallen could’ve been out of the first inning at just 9 pitches, instead Gallen had to face a couple extra batters but was able to keep the cubs off the board in the first.

The Dbacks got off to a great start and set the tone with their major league leading 2024 offense in the bottom of the first when Ketel Marte led off the season with a double and was driven in by the newly acquired first basemen Josh Naylor. Things were looking up at this point.

That momentum didn’t last long as the anointed Dbacks Ace’s command unraveled in the second inning. After getting the leadoff hitter to flyout, Gallen proceeded to throw 11 consecutive balls to walk the 8th and the 9th hole hitters in the Cubs lineup. This set the table for the leadoff hitter Ian Happ to get the lead right back with a double and for the new Cub Kyle Tucker to tack on an additional run. Before you knew it, the Dbacks were down 3-1.

Gallen continued to struggle and his final line was all 4’s as he threw 4 innings, gave up 4 hits, walking 4, and giving up 4 runs while striking out 4.

Perdomo also added to the uncharacteristically shaky defense in the 5th when he tried to get the 3rd out at second base against the speedy Pete Crow-Armstrong which extended the inning. On the very next batter, Jake McCarthy let a ball bounce out of his glove on a hard line drive which allowed 3 more Chicago runs to score. All 3 runs would’ve been avoided if Perdomo had just thrown to first and gotten the 3rd out of the inning instead of trying to edge out the speedy Crow-Armstrong at 2nd. A perfect example of not doing the little things that usually win games for this team.

I have to be honest, I didn’t expect the highlight of opening day for me to be Jalen Beeks’ Dbacks debut, but that was the case. Beeks was excellent going 1.2 innings, throwing just 14 pitches, and being in complete control.

Offensively, the Dbacks actually looked solid with Eugenio Suarez making up for his throwing error with a solo home run in the second inning and this lineup putting across 6 runs. Ketel and Moreno each had a pair of hits. Guys were having good at bats, and the line was moving.

One thing of note that was discussed and agreed upon by Mark Grace and Brandon Webb in the postgame was the propensity for the Cubs pitchers to throw inside to the Dbacks hitters. Corbin Carroll and Eugenio Suarez were both hit by pitches in the game, and later on in the game Suarez narrowly dodged 2 pitches to the face from Cubs pitcher Porter Hodge in the same at bat. It definitely seemed to be in the Cubs’ scouting report to bust our hitters inside. Something to keep an eye on as this series carries on.

At the end of the day, we should all be thankful that Dbacks baseball is back! The team has a couple of things they need to tune up especially on the defensive side of things, but at the end of the day we have a lot to be thankful for.

Looking forward to a great season with you all!