Pitching lets down M’s again
SEATTLE – In four games against the best team in the American League, the Seattle Mariners managed to score 30 runs.
Because of struggles by its pitching staff, Seattle only came away with one victory.
Daniel Nava hit a two-out single in the top of the 10th inning off Seattle’s Tom Wilhelmsen to score pinch-runner Jackie Bradley Jr., and the Boston Red Sox rallied from a four-run deficit to beat the Mariners 8-7 in 10 innings on Thursday.
Ryan Lavarnway walked to open the 10th against Wilhelmsen (0-3) and was replaced by Bradley. Brock Holt laid down a sacrifice bunt to get Bradley to second base with one out. Wilhelmsen struck out Jose Iglesias on the eighth pitch of the at-bat then intentionally walked Jacoby Ellsbury.
Nava fell behind in the count, but was able to roll a 1-2 pitch back up the middle and past the dive of second baseman Brad Miller to give Boston the lead.
“It’s like a baseball god rule: You walk the batter to lead off an inning, they’re scoring,” Wilhelmsen said.
The Mariners continued an upward trend at the plate with their scoring outburst against the Red Sox. Seattle’s problem was poor starting pitching from Hisashi Iwakuma, Aaron Harang, and on Thursday from Erasmo Ramirez making his season debut. Those three starters gave up 20 earned runs in just 122/3 innings over the final three games of the series.
Ramirez’s problem was an inability to command his fastball that gave Boston a chance to come back after the Mariners took a 5-1 lead.
“You walk four guys and hit one in five innings, you can’t do that against any team, let alone a good hitting team like the Red Sox,” Seattle manager Eric Wedge said. “He made it a lot more difficult for himself and for us in general.”
Boston scored three times in the fourth on two-out hits from Holt, Iglesias and Ellsbury, then scored three more in the fifth.
Ramirez was expected to compete for a spot in Seattle’s rotation out of spring training but ended up on the disabled list with soreness in his right elbow. His debut lasted 42/3 innings.
“Every ground ball just go to the right spot. The hitters got the luck today,” Ramirez said.
Seattle got a solo homer from Kyle Seager leading off the second to give the Mariners a homer in 19 straight games, matching the longest streak in franchise history set in September 1999. It’s the longest streak in the majors since Toronto also had 19 straight with a homer in 2010.
Seager’s homer was followed by an RBI double from Miller and a two-run single by Endy Chavez as the M’s scored four times in the second. Michael Saunders added an RBI single in the third for a 5-1 lead. Kendrys Morales and Seager added RBI hits in the fourth.
From there, Seattle’s bats went silent thanks to knuckleball reliever Steven Wright. In his second major league appearance, Wright (1-0) allowed just three hits in 52/3 innings.