Brandon Pfaadt outdueled 10-time All-Star Chris Sale as the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Atlanta Braves 2-0 on Friday in the opener of their three-game series.
Pfaadt (7-1) allowed only two hits over seven scoreless innings with no walks and seven strikeouts. The right-hander owns a 7-0 record with a 1.15 ERA over his nine starts since rejoining the team from Triple-A on June 30.
Juan Morillo pitched around a leadoff single to work a scoreless eighth inning. Brandyn Garcia pitched perfect ninth inning, striking out two, to earn his fourth save. Garcia has not allowed a run in 23 of his last 25 games.
Arizona limited Atlanta to three singles and struck out 11, including Ronald Acuna Jr. three times.
Sale (12-8) pitched six innings and allowed one run on five hits with no walks and nine strikeouts. It marked the 19th consecutive start in which Sale has allowed three or fewer runs, the longest active streak in the major leagues.
Geraldo Perdomo went 4-for-5 and scored Arizona’s first run.
The Diamondbacks took their 1-0 lead in the first. Perdomo led off with a single, advanced to third on a double by Corbin Carroll — a play originally scored as a fielding error by left fielder Mauricio Dubon — and scored on Gabriel Moreno’s grounder to first.
Arizona wasted some late scoring opportunities. The D-backs threatened in the sixth when Perdomo and Carroll led off with singles, but Sale struck out the next three batters – including Nolan Arenado for the third time — to end the threat.
In the seventh against Didier Fuentes, they had Ildemaro Vargas at third base with one out but could not score. They loaded the bases against Dylan Dodd in the eighth inning with one out but came up empty again. For the game, the Diamondbacks were 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
Arizona added an insurance run when Tim Tawa opened the ninth with a home run, his seventh, off reliever Tyler Kinley.
Arizona second baseman Ketel Marte had to leave the game in the second inning with left knee soreness.