Final: Red Sox 1, Diamondbacks 0 -- Sox piece together a win in road trip finale

The Red Sox avoided a sweep by the Diamondbacks Sunday, piecing together a 1-0 win with great help from their bullpen.

With spot starter Hector Velazquez limited to three innings, the Sox used Brandon Workman, Marcus Walden, Matt Barnes and Ryan Brasier to piece together the final 18 outs.

The Diamondbacks got a two-out double from David Peralta in the ninth, but Brasier got Adam Jones on a groundout to end it for the save.

Mitch Moreland provided the only run of the afternoon with a solo homer in the seventh

WHO: Red Sox vs. Diamondbacks
WHEN: 4:10 p.m.
WHERE: Chase Field
SERIES TO DATE: Arizona has won the first two games.
STARTING PITCHING: RHP Hector Velazquez (0-0, 4.76) vs RHP Merrill Kelly (1-0, 4.50)
TV/RADIO: NESN/WEEI 93.7 FM

IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:

5:52  Interesting move here by Alex Cora, calling on Matt Barnes for the seventh with the Sox leading by a run. Partly driven, I'm assuming, by the fact that the D'backs 4-5-6 hitters are due. But wonder who will get the ninth.

5:44  Moreland snaps a 0-0 tie with a solo homer to right. His third homer of the year and first that wasn't a three-run shot.

5:33  While the pitching performance is the best the Red Sox have had this season, the offense has been inept -- three hits to date, all of them singles. Sox don't have a baserunner since the third inning with Kelly having retired the last 10 in a row.

5:23  Sox cut down a run at the plate. With the infield in, Nick Ahmed hits a chopper that takes one hop and lands in Bogaerts' glove. The shortstop then makes a strong throw to Swihart to nail Walker and keep the game scoreless.

5:06 Even allowing for the fact that Velazquez isn't stretched out much -- having not started for a while -- a little surprising that he was lifted after just 39 pitches. Though for sure he'd be good for another inning and 50-something pitches. Getting six innings out of this bullpen is gong to be a challenge, given the workload in the first 10 games.

4:55  Strong outing by Velazquez to date -- commanding to both sides of the plate and consistently getting ahead of the hitters. Has given the Sox three strong innings, needing just 39 pitches through three innings. If he could give them two more innings, they'd be thrilled.

4:42 Continually amazed that major leaguers are incapable of getting a bunt down. Really shouldn't be that hard, even for American League pitchers.

 

LINEUPS

RED SOX

Benintendi LF
Bogaerts SS
Moreland 1B
Martinez RF
Devers 3B
Swihart C
Nunez 2B
Bradley CF
Velazquez P

DIAMONDBACKS

Dyson CF
Escobar 3B
Perralta LF
Jones RF
Walker 1B
Marte 2B
Ahmed SS
Murphy C
Kelly P

WHATS UP: With a walk-off loss Saturday night, the Red Sox fell to 2-8, their worst start to a season since 2011...Before the start of this series, the Red Sox had won 10 of their previous meetings with the Diamondbacks...So far this season, the Red Sox are 0-5 when they score first and 2-3 when the opponents score first. Three times in the last six games, the Red Sox have taken 3-0 leads, and lost both the leads and the games...This series marks Boston's first lost interleague series in their last 14. They had been 10-0-3 against National League teams...J.D. Martinez has hit safely in each of the team's first 10 games. He's also hit safely in each of his last 14 games at Chase Field...Blake Swihart, back behind the plate, is hitting .500 for the season and is 6-for-9 in his last three games with two extra-base hits and three RBI....Rafael Devers scored his 100th career run Saturday night, making him the fifth-youngest Red Sox player to do so behind Ted Williams, Tony Conigliaro, Bobby Doerr and Tris Speaker...Mitch Moreland leads the team in slugging percentage (.593) and tied for the team lead in RBI (eight)...After beginning the season slowly with just two hits in his first 16 at-bats, Andrew Benintendi has hit safely in each of his last five, with multi-hit games in each of his last three games...Hector Velazquez is making his first start of the season, providing a spot start so that the other starters can get an extra day of rest...He's also facing the Diamondbacks for the first time in his career....Last year, he was 2-0 with a 4.15 ERA in eight starts for Boston...Adam Jones is the only hitter in the Arizona lineup who has faced Velazquez before, going 3-for-6 with an RBI in his time with the Orioles...The Red Sox have never faced Merrill Kelly.