Red Sox 11, Diamondbacks 1: Every Starter Drives In a Run

August 17, 2026 - Boston - Fenway did not need a starting pitcher. It needed a lineup that would not make an out looking, and it got one. All nine Boston Red Sox starters drove in a run. Nobody in a Boston uniform struck out. The Red Sox beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 11-1 and left with a six-game lead for the second AL wild card.

Willson Contreras and Mickey Gasper homered. Augusto Gamboa opened and threw 1 1/3 scoreless. Brayan Bello (5-6) followed with 4 2/3 innings, three hits, one run, three strikeouts. Wyatt Olds made his major league debut in the ninth and recorded his first strikeout. The rest was Fenway traffic: doubles, singles, and a homer that snuck around Pesky's Pole.

Four runs before Arizona could breathe

Mitch Bratt (1-2) lasted three innings, four hits, three runs, zero strikeouts. Boston scored in each of his last two frames and the next one besides. Eli White singled Caleb Durbin home in the second. Nick Sogard doubled White home. Durbin singled Contreras home in the third. Ceddanne Rafaela doubled Sogard home in the fourth. 4-0, and Bratt was done.

Zack Littell inherited 4-0 and left with 11-1. Eight runs, 11 hits, zero strikeouts in 3 2/3. The fifth ended it as a contest. Contreras hit a 342-foot homer, his 25th. Andruw Monasterio lifted a sacrifice fly. Gasper grounded Durbin in. 7-0.

Boston scored in six straight innings, second through seventh. That is not one crooked number. That is an order taking the next pitch and putting it in play until Arizona ran out of answers. Rafaela doubled three times, all off Littell. Sogard had two. The Red Sox went 6-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

Pesky's Pole, then Abreu again

Arizona's only run was Geraldo Perdomo's sacrifice fly in the sixth, Ildemaro Vargas scoring. Bello had been dealing zeros in relief. One run on three hits in 4 2/3 is how a long man wins a bullpen game. He has a 0.85 ERA in 11 relief appearances (52 2/3 innings) this season.

Boston answered immediately. Wilyer Abreu singled Rafaela home. Adley Rutschman doubled Abreu home. 9-1. Gasper's first homer as a Red Sox player snuck around Pesky's Pole in the seventh, 343 feet. Abreu singled Rafaela home again. 11-1, and Arizona still had not recorded a punchout against the Boston order.

Line: Red Sox 11 runs on 16 hits, 0 strikeouts; Diamondbacks 1 run on 4 hits, 2 errors; Bello 4 2/3 IP, 1 ER.

Olds got two strikeouts in a clean ninth. Greg Weissert and Justin Morán had already finished the seventh and eighth. The bullpen game held. Arizona managed four hits. Boston's pitchers struck out eight. Arizona's pitchers struck out none.

A wild-card cushion built on contact

Boston is 67-58. Six games up for the second AL wild card. Durbin, Rafaela, Contreras, Abreu, Rutschman: the middle and the bottom both moved runners. That is how you score 11 without a 14-strikeout starter. Contreras had two hits, the homer, a double, and a walk. Durbin had three hits and a steal. Rafaela had three doubles. Abreu drove in two.

Arizona is 66-60 and still in the NL wild-card picture. Littell will get another turn. Bratt will get another look at a lineup that does not chase. Merrill Kelly (8-10, 5.11 ERA) starts Tuesday opposite Ranger Suárez (4-3, 3.25). Fenway will not stay this quiet for the visitors two nights in a row unless Boston keeps putting the ball in play.

I would not call Monday a statement about the rotation. It was a bullpen night. I would call it a statement about the order: nine men, nine RBI, zero punchouts. That version of the Red Sox is the one that holds a wild-card lead in August.

Bello will keep taking the long inning. Contreras will keep finding the short porch. Gasper will try to pull another one around the Pole. Arizona has to find a strikeout somewhere.

AthX Engine angle

Boston led Monday's slate with 24 AthX Engine team fantasy points. Contreras scored 10 hitting fantasy points. Durbin and Rafaela each scored 9. Bello added about 12 pitching fantasy points in relief. AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) graded the full Fenway night, contact included, not only the two homers.

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*Sources: ESPN box score, MLB.com gameday, CBS Boston, AthX Engine daily scoring for August 17, 2026. AthX Engine fantasy scoring is for information only and is not financial advice.*