Merrill Kelly struck out a season high-tying 10 batters over 6 1/3 innings and Corbin Carroll belted a two-run homer to lift the host Arizona Diamondbacks to a 4-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday in Phoenix.
Kelly (6-3) allowed one run on four hits and walked two batters to improve to 5-0 in his last six starts. He also fanned 10 batters over seven innings in the Diamondbacks’ 3-1 win over the Washington Nationals on May 5.
Arizona’s Geraldo Perdomo homered to lead off the second and Josh Rojas added an RBI single as part of a three-run first inning.
Ketel Marte had a pair of singles to extend his career-best on-base streak to 27 games for the Diamondbacks, who snapped a three-game losing skid.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. also had two singles in his first contest after seeing his career-high 17-game hitting streak come to a halt.
Justin Turner homered to lead off the eighth inning and Alex Verdugo had an RBI single for the Red Sox, who struck out 15 times en route to losing for the fifth time in their last seven games. Rafael Devers went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts in his return to the lineup following a two-game absence due to an ailing calf.
Andrew Chafin relieved Kelly and promptly walked Rob Refsnyder to load the bases in the seventh inning. Verdugo sliced an RBI single to left field to trim Arizona’s lead to 4-1 before Chafin struck out Devers to end the threat.
Kyle Nelson served up Turner’s sixth homer of the season before Jose Ruiz bridged the gap to Miguel Castro, who fanned two batters in the ninth inning to secure his fifth save of the season.
Arizona set the tone early as Carroll followed Marte’s one-out single in the first inning by depositing a 1-1 fastball from Tanner Houck (3-4) over the wall in left-center field. Carroll’s homer was his eighth of the season and third in his last 10 games.
The Diamondbacks didn’t stop there as the next two batters reached base before Rojas’ single to left field plated Christian Walker.
Perdomo gave Arizona a 4-0 lead after sending a 3-1 fastball from Houck over the right-center field wall for his fifth homer of the season.
Houck fell to 0-4 in his last six outings after permitting four runs on six hits in four innings.
–Field Level Media
