Red Sox 9, Diamondbacks 4

 

The mighty Boston Red Sox have won back-to-back home games, finally reaching .500 at Fenway, and threaten to sweep the Diamondbacks. 

Last night was the Adley Rutschman show. He opened the scoring in the first inning with a two-RBI single, and then after Ranger Suarez gave up a grand slam to Arizona in the third, tied the game up with a solo home run in the bottom of that inning.  He finished the game two of four at the plate with a homer, three RBIS, and a walk. 

What Rutschman did early in the game, Mickey Glasper did late, hitting a solo homer in the sixth and an RBI single in the seventh. All but one player in the Boston lineup had at least one hit, and five had two. 

Ranger Suarez had a rough third inning, what with the grand slam and all, but still went 5⅓ innings with only those four runs, four hits, and three strikeouts. The bullpen of Guerrero, Miller, and Olds went 3⅔ innings without any runs, and both Miller and Olds are still rocking their 0.00 ERAs after a combined 8⅓ innings in Boston. 

The Rays lost last night, so the Red Sox (68-58) sneak up to 7½ back from first in the AL East.

They go for the sweep of Arizona this afternoon (4:10 pm) with Payton Tolle (8-6, 2.97). Tolle got roughed up in Arizona last year, giving up five runs, including two homers, but that was only his second MLB game and he's a much better pitcher now.   

The D-backs will start Brandon Pfaadt, the scourge of spellcheck, who's 7-1 with a 3.11 ERA. On September 6 last year, the day after Tolle's loss, Pfaadt had seven strikeouts against one run in six innings versus the Sox. The Sox went 1-2 in that series last year, but this year they're looking to sweep.