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.
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Seemingly intent on making sure that every game – win or lose – will be decided by a run or two, the Red Sox pulled out a tense 3-2 victory.
Playing without Hanley Ramirez, who injured his wrist slipping down the dugout steps, and Dustin Pedroia, who received a routine day off, the Red Sox bats went quiet in a 3-1 loss to the Mariners last night.
The Mariners didn’t get their second hit until the sixth inning, when Zunino led off with a 427-foot homer to center for a 2-0 lead. Sandy Leon sacrificed Shaw to second and Holt then bounced a single up the middle off the glove of diving shortstop Sean O’Malley. “Yes, the base-runners issued by walks didn’t necessarily come back to haunt us but thought we had a better opportunity to get Lee out versus Cruz in a one-run lead and he fights a pitch off that finds some grass”.
“But because he’s got the stuff, you don’t have to be quite as sharp”. O’Malley had three hits.
In college, Benintendi was the only player in the nation to rank in the top 25 in batting average (.376), home runs (20), slugging percentage (.717), on base percentage (.488), and walks (50).
Diaz gave up a one-out single to Jackie Bradley Jr. before hitting Aaron Hill with a pitch.
In Detroit, J.D. Martinez broke an eighth-inning tie with a pinch homer on the first pitch he faced since June.
Boston starter Drew Pomeranz also gave up two runs in six innings.
Adam Lind extended the margin to 3-0 with a one-out homer to right in the seventh inning. He hasn’t necessarily been inserted into Seattle’s rotation for the remainder of the season – the return of right-hander Taijuan Walker from the disabled list this season could render this a spot start – but Miranda could make a case for himself with a good outing Thursday.
Ramirez said he “just slipped – and I don’t know what happened”.
Iwakuma struck out seven and walked none, leaving in the eighth after Benintendi’s second hit.
O’Malley and the Mariners threatened in the bottom of the ninth inning, when new Boston reliever Fernando Abad gave up a single to O’Malley and a two-out walk before Kimbrel came on to retire Robinson Cano for the final out.
Shaw opened the second with his 13th homer, driving a 2-0 pitch over the right-field wall to put Boston up 1-0.
Heredia followed with a bunt single and moved to third on ground outs by Gutierrez and Cano.
PLAY OF THE GAME: Left fielder Guillermo Heredia ran down Xander Bogaerts’ drive on track for the first out in the fifth inning with a runner at second and one run already in. The Red Sox need Kimbrel and Ziegler to lock it down in the toughest of situations if they want to have success. “Travis with a big at-bat to lead things off there and then Sandy laid down a ideal bunt, so good team baseball in the last inning for us”. “I haven’t seen one hit that far to center field here in a long time.”…
“Games like that you have to find a way, and we just didn’t get it done”, manager Scott Servais said.
The games are only going to get tighter from here on out. “Anything is good against us right now”.
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Shaw grounded to short to end the inning for Boston. 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.
