Brandon Pfaadt outdueled Chris Sale, and the Diamondbacks eked out a 2-0 win over the Atlanta Braves on Friday, Aug. 14, opening a difficult road trip with a victory at Truist Park.
The win serves as a nice bounce back for the Diamondbacks, who dropped the final two games of their series earlier in the week against the Colorado Rockies. They improved to 65-58 and remain in the thick of the National League wild-card race.
In his latest impressive start — and probably his best yet during his recent stretch — Pfaadt fired seven shutout innings of two-hit ball before handing off to the bullpen. Pfaadt struck out seven and did not walk a batter.
Sale was dominant, as well, giving up just the one run, in the first inning, over six innings. He struck out nine and had no walks.
Right-hander Juan Morillo worked a scoreless eighth inning, striking out two, and lefty Brandyn Garcia finished the job, striking out two to pick up his fourth save.
Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte exited the game in the second inning with what the team called left knee soreness. It was not clear how he suffered the injury.
The Diamondbacks got a run-scoring groundout from Gabriel Moreno in the first inning and a solo homer from Tim Tawa in the top of the ninth. The run in the first was helped along by a misplay in left field by the Braves’ Mauricio Dubon. The Diamondbacks won despite going 0 for 14 with runners in scoring position.
Pfaadt has been on an incredible run since rejoining the rotation in late June. In nine starts, he has a 1.15 ERA in 54 2/3 innings.
After two more games in Atlanta, the Diamondbacks will head north to Boston for a three-game series against the Red Sox.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Brandon Pfaadt's latest gem leads Diamondbacks past Braves