BOSTON (AP) — David Ortiz hit a two-run homer, Marco Scutaro had three RBIs and the Boston Red Sox beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-5 on Thursday night.
John Lackey (8-3) pitched six innings as Boston became the only team with three eight-game winners. The right-hander labored through 112 pitches and earned the win when Adrian Beltre hit an RBI single in the sixth that gave the Red Sox a 5-4 lead. Scutaro added a sacrifice fly in the inning, driving Dan Haren (7-5) from the game.
Arizona extended its club record to 13 straight road losses, a streak that began after a May 17 win at Florida.
The victory gave Boston a three-game sweep and followed wins by Clay Buchholz (9-4) and Jon Lester (8-2). Lackey allowed three earned runs and eight hits, and became the 16th Boston starter in the last 18 games to work at least six innings.
Jonathan Papelbon worked the ninth for his 16th save in 17 opportunities as the Red Sox moved a season-high 12 games over .500 at 40-28 with their ninth win in their last 11 home games.
Arizona fell to 9-25 away from Chase Field, the fewest road wins in the National League. Wednesday night’s 6-2 loss at Fenway Park set the club record for consecutive road losses.
Ortiz reached base in each of his four plate appearances with a single, homer and two walks, one of them intentional. He is 11 for 22 with two homers and eight RBIs in his last six games.
The big designated hitter connected in the third for his 14th homer. Darnell McDonald reached on an error by third baseman Mark Reynolds before Ortiz hit a drive to center on a full-count pitch to give Boston a 3-2 lead.
Arizona scored in the fourth and fifth to regain the lead. Kelly Johnson had a run-scoring single and Miguel Montero hit a tiebreaking RBI double to make it 4-3.
But Boston tied it at 4 in the bottom half on doubles by Daniel Nava and Scutaro.
Chris Young had three hits and two RBIs for Arizona. Stephen Drew also had three hits.
NOTES: The starting time of the game was moved up an hour to 6:10 p.m. because the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to start Game 7 of the NBA finals about three hours later. A large crowd of Celtics fans was expected in Kenmore Square near Fenway Park . … Haren had a rare June struggle. Going into the game, he was 18-4 with a 2.56 ERA in his career in that month. This year, he had been 2-0 in June.
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- Boston Red Sox’s Adrian Beltre, left, puts the tag on Arizona Diamondbacks’ Chris Young trying to steal third base in the third inning of a baseball game, Thursday, June 17, 2010, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
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- Boston Red Sox’s David Ortiz, center, celebrates his two-run home run that also drove in teammate Darnell McDonald, right, in the third inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Thursday, June 17, 2010, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
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