Nolan Arenado ended it with a broken bat and Jovani Morán took the loss. Arenado’s bloop single over a drawn-in infield in the 10th inning scored Gabriel Moreno and sent the Arizona Diamondbacks past the Boston Red Sox 7-6 on Wednesday.
The hit erased Boston’s chance to keep the game tied in extra innings and left Morán at 2-3. Arizona also avoided a series sweep with the win, a result that mattered because the Red Sox had already taken control of the matchup before the 10th started.
The game had already turned into a strange one. Gabriel Moreno delivered a two-run double for Arizona, Lars Nootbar added a pinch-hit two-run homer and the Diamondbacks kept answering until Mickey Gasper tied it with a three-run homer in the sixth. Nick Sogard and Jarren Duran also homered for Boston, while Brandon Pfaadt allowed five runs in 5 2/3 innings and Payton Tolle gave up all three of his runs in the fifth.
What made Arenado’s swing decisive was not power but placement. A broken bat robbed the ball of authority, and that left a soft bloop carrying just far enough to clear the infield that had moved in to cut down the go-ahead run at the plate. It was the kind of hit that looks harmless off the bat and ends a game anyway.
There is still the question of how Morán ended up in that spot, but the result is clear enough. Arizona got the stop it needed, Boston missed its sweep, and Morán was the pitcher left to absorb the final turn in a game that kept changing hands. The next day brings another start for both clubs, with Eduardo Rodriguez set to go for Arizona on Friday against Cincinnati and Sonny Gray lined up for Boston against San Francisco.
