James McCann homered to break a scoreless tie in the eighth, seven Arizona pitchers limited Philadelphia to three hits, and the host Diamondbacks avoided a series sweep with a 1-0 victory over the Phillies in Phoenix on Wednesday.
McCann hit a 409-foot homer on the first pitch he saw from Jonathan Bowlan (2-2), who replaced Phillies starter Andrew Painter in the eighth.
Painter gave up two singles and no walks in seven scoreless innings. He struck out six and was relieved after throwing 93 pitches.
Jonathan Loaisiga (6-3), the sixth Arizona pitcher, pitched a 1-2-3 eighth and Juan Morillo pitched around a two-out walk to Bryce Harper in the ninth for his third save.
Morillo struck out Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner before walking Harper. Luis Arraez grounded out to end the game, the D-backs’ third 1-0 win of the season. Morillo has made 17 straight scoreless appearances.
The Phillies (79-61) had won six in a row and 15 of 17.
The D-backs (74-67) moved one-half game ahead of the San Diego Padres (73-67) for the third and final NL wild card spot after the Padres lost in Cincinnati for the second straight day.
The D-Backs had lost three in a row and four of six. They had three runs and 18 hits in the three-game set and were 0 for 16 with runners in scoring position.
Harper extended his career-long on-base streak to 35 games with a single and two walks. He had seven hits, three walks and two RBIs in the series. He singled to open the seventh off Brandyn Garcia, who got out of the inning with a force out at second and two strikeouts.
Bryan De La Cruz had the Phillies’ other two hits, a double in the third and a single to open the sixth. Jose Cabrera struck out Schwarber and got Turner to ground into a double play to end the sixth.
Painter retired 19 of 20 after Lars Nootbaar singled to lead off the first before Geraldo Perdomo singled to left with one out in the seventh. Perdomo took second on a groundout, but Painter struck out Tim Tawa to end the inning.
The only other runner off Painter was Gabriel Moreno, who reached on a two-base error in the fourth when third baseman Bryson Stott could not handle a 104 mph line drive.
–Field Level Media
