James McCann had three hits and scored twice, Brandon Pfaadt pitched six strong innings to earn his 13th victory and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Boston Red Sox 5-1 in Phoenix on Saturday.
Adrian Del Castillo had two hits and Jake McCarthy had two RBIs for the D-backs, who have won four in a row and eight of 10.
Pfaadt (13-8) gave up one run on six hits, with seven strikeouts and no walks. He had given up a combined 10 runs in his previous two starts.
Masataka Yoshida had an RBI single and Romy Gonzalez extended his hitting streak to nine games for the Red Sox, who have lost three in a row after a three-game winning streak.
Boston (78-65) fell to 4 1/2 games behind Toronto in the AL East. The Red Sox are 1 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees for the first AL wild-card position.
Arizona (72-71) moved over .500 for the first time since July 1 and closed to within 4 1/2 games of the New York Mets for the final NL wild-card spot.
Boston center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela and Arizona left-fielder Blaze Alexander traded defensive gems by taking home runs away with leaping catches at the fence.
Rafaela robbed Corbin Carroll in the fifth inning and Alexander did the same to Alex Bregman in the eighth.
Boston starter Lucas Giolito (10-3) gave up seven hits, all singles, and four runs (two earned) in five-plus innings. He walked three and struck out two.
Justin Wilson replaced Giolito after Del Castillo and McCann singled to open the sixth, and he struck out the side to keep the game at 4-1.
Arizona took a 3-0 lead in the second inning in a rally fueled by shortstop Trevor Story’s error. Del Castillo and McCann singled and Tyler Locklear drew a walk before Story let McCarthy’s grounder get under his glove as two runs scored. Geraldo Perdomo’s sacrifice fly capped the inning.
Nate Eaton doubled with two outs in the third, the Red Sox’s first hit, and scored on Yoshida’s single to make it 3-1. Yoshida was hitting leadoff for the first time in his career.
The D-backs took a 4-1 lead after McCarthy’s RBI single in the fourth, and Alexander hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh for the final run.
–Field Level Media
