After three home runs, another series of impressive-turned-easy catches from their outfielders, and a dominant showing from their best relief pitchers, the Red Sox lost anyway, 7-6, to the Diamondbacks in 10 innings Wednesday at Fenway Park.
For a while, Mickey Gasper’s tying three-run shot in the sixth inning looked like another major moment in a summer full of them. In the end, though, the Sox couldn’t score again to make it matter.
In the extra inning, lefthander Jovani Morán allowed a go-ahead single to Nolan Arenado — weakly dropped in over a drawn-in infield — and walked three consecutive batters to force in another run.
The Sox answered with a pair of ground outs, enough to bring in the automatic runner from second base, but no more. Ultimately, Morán’s freebie via the free passes was the difference.
“Yeah, he struggled with strikes today,” interim manager Chad Tracy said.
A sideshow in the final moments: Willson Contreras grounded out to third base for the penultimate out. When he didn’t run hard, some in the sellout crowd of 36,540 booed. Contreras put his hand to his ear as he approached the dugout.
During and after the last at-bat, Caleb Durbin’s two-pitch pop out, Contreras jawed with a fan behind the dugout.
“He was inviting me to dinner,” Contreras said, his annoyance yielding to humor. “I was like, no, I’m good with that.”
Contreras was booed by home fans on a similar play on Aug. 8. Because he has been managing a sore left hamstring — which was bad enough for him to ask out of the lineup Sunday in Pittsburgh — he has been careful not to push it on routine plays.
“If you’re a real fan and you know baseball, there’s no case for me to hustle out of the box,” Contreras said. “I’m not 100 percent. We never are, but I’m taking care of my leg. If I have to run, I push a little bit. If I don’t, my manager has my back, and I talk to him, and he gave me the permission just to do whatever it takes to take care of my legs. … If I was 100 percent, they wouldn’t boo because I was going to hustle down the line.”
As for his oft-expressed love of Boston?
“I’m in the best place to play baseball,” Contreras said. “I’m in the right place.”
The biggest moment of the first nine innings was Gasper’s homer — his third in three days — particularly critical because of the timing.
The Red Sox (68-59) were about to head into the late innings trailing by several runs, so they had lefthander Alec Gamboa warming up for the seventh. When they put a couple runners on, Erik Miller joined him, in case they made it close. When Gasper tied it, Miller entered.
Tracy made the obvious moves from there, calling on his late-inning arms in the late innings of a close game. After Miller came Tyron Guerrero, then Aroldis Chapman. Together, they struck out three and gave up one hit in three scoreless innings.
But with Garrett Whitlock and Justin Slaten on the injured list with elbow issues, the Sox were shorthanded come the 10th. Thus, Morán.
“All of them gave us a zero,” Tracy said of Miller, Guerrero, and Chapman, “and gave us a chance to win.”
Lefthander Payton Tolle (three runs, five innings) and Arizona righthander Brandon Pfaadt (five runs, 5⅔ innings) wound up with mediocre lines — in contrast with how well each had pitched recently.
Coming off perhaps the best back-to-back starts of his career, Tolle looked like he was on his way to another excellent outing until stumbling in his final frame, toiling for 31 pitches.
With one run already in, Tolle faced a two-on, two-out jam. Gabriel Moreno fell behind, 1-2, fouled off two fastballs, took a curveball in the dirt, and squared up a sinker. He shot it into the left-center field gap for a go-ahead, two-run double.
That made for a dud of an ending for Tolle, who threw 98 pitches, 29 of which the Diamondbacks (67-61) fouled off — a 30 percent rate well above the league average of 18.
“Toronto’s a ball-in-play type team. They swung, the balls went in play and they [went] for early-count outs,” Tracy said, referring to Tolle’s opponent for eight innings last week. “This team was able to grind. … You’re really at the mercy of: Are those balls going in play for quick outs, or are they getting smacked and dragged out for six pitches?”
Meanwhile, the Sox jumped on Pfaadt early and late, scoring all of their runs via the long ball.
On Pfaadt’s first pitch, a middle-middle fastball, Nick Sogard went deep to right field, the first homer of his career. It snapped Pfaadt’s streak of 32⅔ consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.
Jarren Duran homered in the third.
On Thursday, the Red Sox get to rest. It is their first offday since Aug. 3, the day they acquired Adley Rutschman from the Orioles. The 16-day run is tied for their longest stretch of the season.
They went 8-8.
“We circled it a month ago: That’s going to be a little bit of a gauntlet,” Tracy said. “And it was a gauntlet. So all our guys need a day of rest and recovery and refresh.”
Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com. Follow him @timbhealey.