MILWAUKEE — Brandon Pfaadt tied an Arizona franchise record by striking out seven straight batters to highlight his dominating performance as the Diamondbacks boosted their playoff hopes by beating the Milwaukee Brewers 5-1 on Thursday night.
The Diamondbacks remain tied for second place in the NL wild-card standings with the New York Mets, who beat the Philadelphia Phillies 10-6 on Thursday. They're both two games ahead of the Atlanta Braves.
Milwaukee was playing one night after clinching its third NL Central title in four years.
Pfaadt (10-9) collected a career-high 12 strikeouts while allowing just one run and two hits in seven innings. It was a remarkable recovery for Pfaadt, who had given up eight runs over 1 2/3 innings in a 15-8 loss to the Brewers just five nights earlier.
''It was all predicated off the command of his fastball and the aggressiveness in which he set his fastball tone,'' Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. ''That was an unbelievable turnaround and the main reason that we won this game, in my opinion.''
Pavin Smith hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning for the Diamondbacks.
Milwaukee's run came on Garrett Mitchell's two-out homer in the seventh. Pfaadt allowed only one other baserunner, when he gave up Brice Turang's leadoff single in the fourth.
Turang moved to second when Jackson Chourio grounded out, then Pfaadt struck out Milwaukee's next seven hitters.