Shawn O’Malley led off with a home run that narrowed the Red Sox lead to 2-1, then Guillermo Heredia reached on an infield single in which Pomeranz and second baseman Dustin Pedroia narrowly avoided a collision.
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The Mariners got the tying run to third base later in the inning against Brad Ziegler but no farther.
After a quiet couple innings against Miranda, Bryce Brentz led off the fifth with a double and was promptly driven in on an RBI single by Mookie Betts on a double and the Red Sox led 2-0. Seattle also promoted LHP Ariel Miranda and RHP Blake Parker from Triple-A Tacoma, optioned RHP Donn Roach to Tacoma and released RHP Mayckol Guaipe.
Brock Holt finally delivered with a one-out, RBI single in the 11th inning, lifting the Red Sox to a 3-2 win over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night. He allowed two runs, both earned, on eight hits and one walk while striking out five over 6 innings. Reliever Blake Parker also made his Mariners debut and labored through the 10 – literally, as his wind-up seems to take as much energy as a Greco-Roman wrestling match – without giving up a run. New closer Edwin Diaz picked up his first career save. Seattle’s first three hits of the game went for homers. He retired Robinson Cano on two pitches, getting the left-handed hitter to ground out to second base.
Initially drafted in 2013 out of Madiera HS in the 31st round by his hometown Cincinnati Reds, Benintendi shirked the offer and went on to play at Arkansas, where he hit.380 with a.489 on-base percentage as a junior. Elias Sports Bureau says the 43 year old Colon, or the Jaromir Jagr of baseball, as I’ve made a decision to call him, became the first pitcher to win a Subway Series game for each NY team. O’Malley, who had played brilliantly in the game, slammed his glove in frustration as the ball rolled to the outfield and Shaw raced home.
Benintendi, making his first career start, recorded the first two major league hits. The Red Sox fell 5-4 to the Mariners last night.
The Red Sox will still have some stiff competition in the late innings of ballgames as they battle for a playoff spot in August and September, but their prospects for competing well in those spots got a bit of a boost Thursday night.
Unfortunately, with one out, Jackie Bradley Jr. struck out and Aaron Hill flied out to left to squander the golden opportunity early. Pomeranz minimized the damage that inning when, with his back turned, he knocked down a hard liner by Kyle Seager and threw to first to strand runners at first and third.
Pomeranz had his cleanest inning, with a 1-2-3 sixth with two strikeouts.
Adam Lind cracked a changeup to right field for another homer in the seventh.
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Shaw opened the second with his 13th homer, driving a 2-0 pitch over the right-field wall to put Boston up 1-0. He fired quickly to first for the final out of the game. “It was a big at-bat by Travis (Shaw), and it was good to see Sandy get the bunt down”. Mariners starters have pitched at least six innings in 12 of the last 15 games, but the Mariners are just 8-7 in that span. “I don’t mind walking guys as long as I don’t give up runs”. John Farrell went to Craig Kimbrel to face Cano this time, and he got the slugger to ground out weakly to second to send the game to extras.
