CHICAGO _ Zac Gallen had been steady through the first five starts of his major league career with the Miami Marlins with one exception: He had trouble getting deep into games.
For as good as he has been _ a sub-4.00 ERA, more than a strikeout per inning and almost twice as many strikeouts as walks _ Gallen never made it out of the sixth inning during his first handful of starts.
Consider his performance during the Marlins' 2-0 series-clinching win against the Chicago White Sox a breakthrough.
Seven innings? Career high.
Nine strikeouts? Career high.
Two hits? Career low.
Zero runs allowed? First time.
One walk? Ties a career low.
The win? Gallen's first as a big leaguer.
In summary: A pretty good night for the 23-year-old.
He finished the night after throwing 95 pitches, 68 of which went for strikes. He induced 14 swinging strikes, nine of which were outside of the strike zone.
He escaped a third-inning, bases-loaded jam _ created by hitting Adam Engel and Jose Abreu with pitches and giving up a single to Leury Garcia _ by getting cleanup hitter Yoan Moncada to fly out to shallow center field.
He worked around a Ryan Goins leadoff double in the seventh by striking out both James McCann and AJ Reed and then getting Yolmer Sanchez to ground out to third baseman Brian Anderson.
He dealt with one baserunner otherwise.
Gallen's statline through his first six starts: A 2.76 ERA and 35 strikeouts against just 15 walks in 29 1/3 innings of work.
And after the Marlins (38-62) and White Sox (45-54) exchanged scoreless innings, Gallen finally received the run support he needed when Cesar Puello belted out a two-run home run 432 feet into left field. Puello made an emphatic bat flip before rounding the bases.
Nick Anderson worked a scoreless eighth, aided by two big plays in center field by Puello. Sergio Romo earned his 17th save of the season with a scoreless ninth inning.
