Pfaadt pitches 6 strong innings as Diamondbacks beat Red Sox 5-1

PHOENIX (AP) — Brandon Pfaadt pitched six strong innings and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Boston Red Sox 5-1 on Saturday night.

Arizona scored three runs in the second against Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito (10-3), aided by an error by Trevor Story. Jake McCarthy drove in two runs for the Diamondbacks.

With the loss, the Red Sox fell 1 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees for the top wild-card position in the American League. They trail Toronto by 4 1/2 games for the AL East lead with 19 games remaining.

Pfaadt (13-8) gave up one run and six hits. He walked none and struck out seven.

Giolito had won nine of his last 10 decisions, but two singles and a walk loaded the bases for Arizona in the second. Story couldn’t come up with McCarthy’s chopper to short and the ball skipped past for an error, allowing two runs to score. Geraldo Perdomo followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.

Pfaadt retired the first eight Red Sox batters before Nate Eaton doubled down the line in left and scored on Masataka Yoshida’s single.

Giolito went five-plus innings, allowing seven hits and four runs — two earned.

Red Sox center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela made a sensational leaping catch in the fifth inning, reaching over the wall in right-center to take a home run away from Corbin Carroll.

Not to be outdone, Diamondbacks left fielder Blaze Alexander robbed Alex Bregman of a homer in the eighth.

Key moment

The grounder that eluded Story in the second inning put Arizona ahead to stay.

Key stat

Arizona has won six in a row against Boston, including a sweep at Fenway Park last season.

Up next

Red Sox RHP Brayan Bello (11-6, 3.07 ERA) starts against Diamondbacks RHP Ryne Nelson (7-3, 3.57) on Sunday.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb