The Diamondbacks blew out the Boston Red Sox in a 12-2, wire-to-wire win at Fenway Park. Ryne Nelson turned in another quality start, holding the Red Sox to two runs in six innings, and the offense erupted late to put the game away. For the first time since the end of the 2017 season, Arizona is 17 games over .500.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!“I think our team was ready to go,” said Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo in the postgame breakdown on Dbacks TV. “This is a great venue to play baseball games in, I think our guys were excited in pregame, and they came out with energy. It was the first two hitters, a couple of early runs. Nelly went to work from there and some real good situational hitting. Obviously the grand slam was the big dagger tonight.”
Quality starts have become a regular occurrence for Nelson, a big reason why the team chose to keep him in the rotation. He was gifted a 2-0 lead before throwing his first pitch. He got clipped for a run before recording his first out, surrendering back-to-back doubles to Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu, but kept the lead. In the third, the Red Sox loaded the bases with two outs, but Nelson struck out Rob Refsnyder on three pitches to end the inning.
From that point, Nelson settled in for the rest of his start. He retired nine of the final 10 batters he faced, the lone blemish being a solo home run to Refsnyder. By that point, the Diamondbacks had already started to pull away.
Once again, the four-seamer played a key role in his start. Nelson featured that pitch for 60 of his 96 pitches, jumping ahead of Red Sox hitters and putting them on the backfoot. While he only landed 13 called strikes and got seven whiffs on the night, they showed up deep in the count when he needed them. Nelson allowed just those two runs on five hits, one walk, and seven strikeouts. Since July 2, he has a 2.76 ERA with 62 strikeouts and 12 walks in 62 innings.
“Made some nice adjustments, landed some fastballs, and just really went to work,” said Lovullo. “It’s two earned runs over six innings in a very tough ballpark for a team that doesn’t play here very often. Scores can change here quickly, I’ve seen it, and he controlled their lineup very well.”
For much of the game, it was a pitchers’ duel between Nelson and Red Sox starter Bryan Bello. However, the Diamondbacks were able to get to Bello in the sixth. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drew a key walk to jumpstart the inning. Adrian Del Castillo singled on a swinging bunt down the third base line, with a throwing error by Bello advancing Gurriel to third. Eugenio Suárez capitalized on the opportunity, with a single to left to push the lead back to two. Luis Guillorme chased the Red Sox starter with a double off the Green Monster.
Even with Bello out of the game, the Diamondbacks continue to work against the Boston bullpen. Geraldo Perdomo smoked a ground ball that shortstop Ceddanne Rafaela could only knock down but the Red Sox shortstop made a big catch to keep Arizona from scoring more runs.
That ended up only being a brief reprieve, as they broke it open in the seventh. Joc Pederson reached on a left-on-left at-bat then singles by Josh Bell and Gurriel loaded the bases. While the red-hot Del Castillo couldn’t hit his second grand slam of the month, Suárez did to put the Diamondbacks up 9-2 with a fly ball that just cleared the monster.
Geno breaks it open with a grand slam. The #Dbacks have scored 7 runs in the last 2 innings. pic.twitter.com/9JA64fKopb
— Burn City D-backs Talk????️ (@BurnCityDbacks) August 24, 2024
“I tried to calm down in that situation, it’s not like I try to hit a homer,” said Suárez in the postgame interview on Dbacks TV. “I try to always put the ball in play and do my job. I got the opportunity, I hit it for a homer, and that grand slam helped the team win the game.”
Coincidentally enough, it was the same three hitters that were on base when Suárez hit his grand slam against the Colorado Rockies on August 14. It was the team’s ninth grand slam of the season, tying a franchise record.
“That’s probably more about the team building the inning and setting it up for that guy, trusting the group of hitters behind one another knowing the right guy at the right time will exploit it,” said Lovullo.
From there, the Diamondbacks cruised out to a 10-run win, their fourth straight after losing the first three games of the road trip.
The Diamondbacks will try to go for the series win and a winning road trip. They’ll send out their ace, Zac Gallen (9-6, 3.85 ERA), to the mound while the Red Sox will go with right-hander Kutter Crawford (8-10, 4.25 ERA). First pitch at Fenway Park will be at 1:10 P.M. MST.
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Cardinals, and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
