Ryne Nelson pitched another dominant game and the offense gave him all the support he needed as the Arizona Diamondbacks blew out the Boston Red Sox 12-2 Friday night at Fenway Park. Eugenio Suarez hit a grand slam among his three hits and drove in five runs to pace the attack.
For Nelson it was another opportunity for him to put a stamp on what has been an incredible second half of the season. Just before the game manager Torey Lovullo announced that Jordan Montgomery would be sent to the bullpen and Nelson would remain in the rotation.
That was hardly a controversial decision at this point. Nelson has been terriffic ever since the calendar flipped to July, and tonight was no exception. A key aspect to his outing was his composure and how he responded to adversity.
The offense staked Nelson to a quick 2-0 lead in the first when the first four batters reached base. It could have been more, but a couple of outstanding Red Sox plays on the field limited the damage against starter Brayan Bello.
The Red Sox counter punched against Nelson with back to back doubles by Jarren Durean and Wilyer Abreu to start the bottom of the first with a quick run. Unfazed, Nelson retired the next three batters to quickly end the inning. That started a string of eight straight hitters retired.
Still protecting a 2-1 lead in the third, Nelson showed both his his maturity and dominance, further justifying his manager's faith and decision.
Abreu hit a soft liner over shortstop Geraldo Perdomo, who lept a little too early allowing the ball to hit off the heel of his glove. Tristan Cases then hit a dribbler up the third base line with the infield shifted. With two on and two out, Nelson took the wise choice to pitch around Rafael Devers, walking him on four pitches.
It might have looked to the outside world like Nelson was wobbling with the bases loaded. But in fact he was in total command of both his pitches and his emotions. He proceeded to strike out Rob Refsnyder with two fastballs and a cutter up top for swinging K.
That was pretty much it for the Red Sox offense. Nelson only allowed one hit the rest of the way, ironically a two out solo homer to Refsnyder in the 6th. Nelson had four strikeouts looking over the final three innings as he painted fastballs at the corners.
Nelson's final line was 6 IP, 5 H. 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 HR. He threw 96 pitches, 62 for strikes. His record goes to 9-6 with a 4.29 ERA.
The right-hander threw 60 fastballs, 17 cutters, 10 change ups, seven curveballs and two sliders. There was some hard contact, including five balls over 100 MPH and three more over 95. But he worked quickly, threw strikes and made pitches whenever he had to.
The Diamondbacks offense went back to work in the top of the sixth. It started with a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. walk, follwed by singles from Adrian Del Castillo and Eugenio Suarez, driving in his first run of the night. Luis Guillorme hit a double off the wall to drive in his first run as a Diamondbacks, and Perdomo followed with an RBI base hit.
The seventh inning started with a hit by pitch on Joc Pederson, his 13th of the year. Singles by Bell and Gurriel loaded the bases. Del Castillo Stuck out but Suarez hit a fly ball up on top of the Green Monster for his second grand slam this month.
It was the 5th grand slam of his career. Suarez now has 19 homers and 74 RBI on the season. It was also the Diamondbacks 9th grand slam of the season, tying the franchise single season record set in 2001.
The D-backs tacked on two more in the ninth to complete the scoring. A special mention of Josh Bell is warranted. The big first baseman had three hits, an RBI walk in the first inning, and made two stellar defense plays. Geraldo Perdomo also had three hits, including an RBI double.
The D-backs out-hit the Red Sox 16-6 and recorded their major league leading 16th game scoring double digit runs.
The Arizona Diamondbacks record improves to 73-56 and they remain in the first Wild Card position, regardless of other results Friday night. Boston's record falls to 67-60. Game two of the series is Saturday at 1:10 P.M. Arizona time. Zac Gallen will try to pitch the D-backs to the series victory. He'll be opposed by Kutter Crawford.
