Weaver, Mariners defeat Red Sox
SEATTLE – The biggest innings sometimes come from the simplest of plays.
The Seattle Mariners, merely trying to push the tying run to third base with a bunt, instead burst upon the Boston Red Sox with five runs in the fifth inning of what became a 9-4 Mariners victory Monday night at Safeco Field.
It helped the Mariners gain a full game on the first-place Angels in the American League West Division for the first time since June 12. The Angels, who lost to the Royals, lead the M’s by seven.
The Mariners trailed the Red Sox 2-1 in the fifth inning of what had shaped up to be a pitching lockdown by the two starters, Jeff Weaver of the M’s and Julian Tavarez of the Sox.
Then Adrian Beltre led off the bottom of the fifth with a double and the Mariners played for the tie. Yuniesky Betancourt squared to drop a sacrifice bunt that would move Beltre to third, and the winning rally unfolded.
Tavarez fielded Betancourt’s bunt near the third-base line and threw wildly to first base. Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia backed up the play, but it left Mariners on first and third with nobody out.
“The throw kind of opened up the gates for us,” manager Mike Hargrove said.
Willie Bloomquist lined a pitch from Tavarez up the middle for a single, driving home Beltre to tie the score 2-2.
Then the Mariners piled on, with more help from Red Sox pitching.
Tavarez walked Ichiro Suzuki – who went 0 for 4 and had his 19-game hitting streak snapped – to load the bases before Jose Lopez singled to left field, driving home Betancourt and Bloomquist for a 4-2 lead.
Jose Vidro bunted into a fielder’s choice to leave runners on first and second with one out, but Richie Sexson fluttered a grounder along the third-base line that stayed fair for a single, loading the bases again.
The Red Sox brought in right-hander Kyle Snyder, who got Ben Broussard on a popup but then lost his control. He walked Kenji Johjima to force in a run, then did the same with Beltre to make the score 6-2.
That was plenty for Weaver, who continued his turnaround from an 0-6 record to start the season.
Weaver sputtered through the third inning when the Red Sox scored two runs, aided greatly by his own throwing error after fielding a bunt. That was the worst of Weaver’s throws.
He held the Red Sox to six hits and one earned run in 5 2/3 innings and, while he pitched with runners on base in four of the six innings he worked, he kept the power side of the Red Sox quiet.
Weaver retired Manny Ramirez twice with runners on base, including men on second and third with two outs in the third, and limited David Ortiz to a ground single up the middle in the third.
Weaver is 2-0 in four starts since coming off the disabled list and is 2-6 for the season.
“His last three starts, he’s been on,” Hargrove said. “That’s a good-hitting lineup the Red Sox have. You don’t have the best record in baseball because you’re lucky. Jeff pitched into the sixth inning, which we needed.”
Left-hander Eric O’Flaherty got the final out of the sixth with two runners on base and the first two outs in the seventh before Sean Green got the third, a strikeout of Manny Ramirez.
The Mariners added on in the bottom of the seventh against right-hander Mike Timlin, the 41-year-old who pitched for the M’s in 1997 and 1998. Timlin walked his first hitter, Sexson, before getting Broussard to bounce into a fielder’s choice for the first out.
Johjima unloaded on Timlin’s next pitch, driving it deep into the Red Sox bullpen beyond the left-field fence for his eighth homer. On the next pitch, Beltre did the same, homering just a few feet left of where Johjima’s ball landed, his 10th homer.
It was the Mariners’ first back-to-back home runs of the season and, more importantly, pushed them ahead by seven runs.
George Sherrill got a key double play to bail Green out of a bases-loaded situation in the eighth and Ryan Rowland-Smith gave up a walk and two doubles in the ninth, when the Red Sox scored their last two runs, but also struck out the side.
Homecoming
The day after Ken Griffey Jr.’s celebrated weekend back in Seattle, another former Mariner came back. Monday, it was pitcher Joel Pineiro, now a reliever with the Red Sox.
“Where are Edgar and Jay?” Pineiro asked, joking. “I thought they’d be here for my return, too.”
Of note
Left fielder Raul Ibanez missed his second straight game because of a strained right hamstring. He said it’s not serious, although chances are slim he’ll play until at least Friday, taking advantage of Thursday’s off day. … Right fielder Jose Guillen missed his third straight game because of a sore right elbow. “When he says he’s ready to go, he’ll be in the lineup,” Hargrove said.