Cora earns 600th win with Red Sox, who pick up ground in AL East
Published
PHOENIX (AP) — Pinch-hitter Nick Sogard lined a late tiebreaking, two-run double, Aroldis Chapman extended his hitless streak to 17 appearances by striking out four in the ninth inning and Alex Cora got his 600th win as Boston manager when the Red Sox rallied to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-4 on Sunday.
Boston put two on in the ninth against Taylor Rashi (0-1) and Sogard followed with a double off Andrew Saalfrank. Carlos Narváez added a run-scoring single.
Chapman tied the record for strikeouts in an inning as Ildemaro Vargas reached on a wild pitch and the 37-year-old closer got his 29th save in 31 chances. Chapman‘s hitless streak, spanning 14 2/3 innings since July 26, is the third-longest since 1901.
Cora trails only Joe Cronin (1,071) and Terry Francona (744) for wins by a Boston manager.
Garrett Whitlock (6-3) escaped a jam in the seventh and threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
Boston remained 1 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees for the top AL wild card and moved within 3 1/2 games of AL East-leading Toronto.
Arizona led 3-1 after six innings, then fell behind 3-2 in a bizarre seventh that included a stolen base on a pickoff and a two-run throwing error by third baseman Jordan Lawler.
David Thompson hit a run-scoring single and Boston took a 4-3 lead when Lawler threw the ball into the dugout on Conner Wong's bad-hop grounder.
Arizona tied it in the eighth on Lawler's RBI single off Zack Kelly.
Key moment
Trevor Story's steal on a pickoff as first baseman Tyler Locklear made a high toss to second set the table for Boston's seventh-inning rally. He is 27 for 27 on steal attempts this year.
Key stat
Chapman's hitless streak trails only the 20 straight by Florida's Randy Choate in 2011 and 18 straight Tim Byrdak of the New York Mets in 2012.
Up next
Red Sox RHP Garrett Crochet (14-5, 2.67 ERA) pitches Monday in the opener of a three-game series at the Athletics.
Diamondbacks RHP Nabil Crismatt (2-0. 2.14) pitches the opener of a three-series at San Francisco on Monday.
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