The Boston Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 6-4 on Tuesday, Aug. 1 at T-Mobile Park to even the series one game apiece.
The Red Sox were handed a solid performance from their young starter, Brayan Bello, who gave the team length through six innings, even though he did allow four runs. As usual, the backend of the Red Sox bullpen was great, giving manager Alex Cora three shutout innings to end the game.
The Blue Jays fell 13-3 against the Orioles, meaning the Sox are now only 1.5 games behind the Jays for the third wild card spot. The Red Sox will host the Blue Jays for a three-game series starting Friday, Aug. 4 at Fenway Park.
In their previous four games the Red Sox only scored a total of 10 runs, averaging 2.5 runs per game. This season, the Sox have averaged almost five runs per game which ranks sixth in Major League Baseball (MLB). Unsurprisingly, the Red Sox lost three out of the four games. Unfortunately the Red Sox only gave up 3.25 runs per game over that stretch, otherwise allowing over four runs per game. Although they pitched better than they usually do, their offense let them down big time.
Tonight, however, was a totally different story. The Red Sox offense finally got back to what we are accustomed to. After getting shutout in the first three innings, the Red Sox loaded the bases with nobody out in the fourth. First baseman Triston Casas sharply lined out and second baseman Christian Arroyo hit a ground-rule double to drive in the Red Sox’s first runs of the night. The next batter, catcher Reese McGuire, hit a sac-fly to score center fielder Adam Duvall and made it 3-1, Red Sox.
An inning later, outfielder Jarren Duran used his speed to stretch a single into a double, leading off the inning. Then, right fielder Alex Verdugo crushed a 398 foot home run to put the Red Sox on top 5-1. This was an encouraging sign for Verdugo because it showed improvement from past poor performances.
While it seemed as though the Red Sox were going to cruise to an easy win, it proved to be more difficult. In the bottom half of the fifth inning, left fielder Cade Marlowe would lead it off with a base hit. After Bello got the next two Mariners to strike out, third baseman Eugenio Suarez launched a two run home run 390 feet to left field. This put the Mariners within striking distance, as the score was 5-3, Red Sox. In the next inning both teams would score once, the Red Sox on the first home run of the season from McGuire, and the Mariners on back to back innings. After six innings, the score was 6-4 Red Sox.
For the rest of the game, the Red Sox used three relievers, who combined for three shutout innings to end the game. The first reliever was the right hander Chris Martin, who pitched a perfect seventh inning to lower his earned run average (ERA) to 1.57. The eighth inning saw reliever Josh Winckowski, who worked around a couple base runners in an ultimately scoreless inning. In the ninth, closer Kenley Jansen picked up save number 24, in the same ballpark where he represented the Red Sox in the 2023 all-star game.
The Red Sox will look to take the series with a win on Wednesday, Aug. 2 at 4 p.m. The Red Sox starter will be Kutter Crawford, who in his last start against the Giants went five and ⅔ innings, allowing only one run. The Mariners will go to their young starter, Logan Gilbert. In 21 games this season, he is 9-5 with a 3.83 ERA.
A win would mean the Sox would go 3-3 on their six-game road trip and they would be heading home to begin a ten-game homestand coming off a big series win.
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