Boston continues torrid clip
SEATTLE – Bronson Arroyo pitched seven shutout innings, and Manny Ramirez and Mark Bellhorn homered, leading the Boston Red Sox to an 9-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday night.
With pro-Boston fans in the Safeco Field crowd of 44,401 chanting “Let’s Go Red Sox!” Boston stayed 2 1/2 games back of the New York Yankees in the American League East with their 28th win in 34 games. The Yankees beat Baltimore 5-2 earlier.
Arroyo (9-9) won his fourth consecutive decision, allowing four hits, no walks and six strikeouts. He came out with a 7-0 lead after making 85 pitches.
Mike Timlin and Alan Embree finished up the five-hitter, Boston’s 12th shutout of the season. The Mariners were shut out for the 11th time.
Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki, who leads the majors with 229 hits, went 0 for 4 for the second consecutive night to drop his batting average to .373. He has 21 games left to tie the single-season major league record of 257 set by George Sisler in 1920 for the St. Louis Browns.
Ramirez got the Red Sox off to a quick start in the first inning when he hit his league-leading 41st homer — and third in two games — on a 1-2 pitch from Jamie Moyer (6-11), a 429-foot shot to center.
Ramirez’s nine homers against Moyer is the most he has hit against any major league pitcher.
Bellhorn tagged his 16th homer of the season, a two-run shot, to cap Boston’s four-run fifth. His homer also came off Moyer, who has allowed a major league-leading 41 home runs, tying Robin Roberts (1955), Phil Niekro (1979) and Rick Helling (1999) for sixth place on the all-time homers allowed list. Bert Blyleven (1986) holds the major league mark with 50.
In the second, Boston increased its lead to 3-0 on Kevin Millar’s RBI double and Gabe Kapler’s run-scoring single.
In the fifth, Johnny Damon had a two-run double for the Red Sox before Bellhorn’s homer.
Moyer lost his career-high ninth consecutive decision and hasn’t won since June 18. Since then, he’s made 16 appearances — 15 starts — and has seen his ERA go to 5.09 from 3.64.
Moyer, 41, was an All-Star and a 21-game winner last season.
Notes
The Mariners called up left-hander Randy Williams from Triple-A Tacoma to take the place of George Sherrill in their bullpen. The Mariners said Friday that they were shutting down Sherrill, also a left-hander, for the final three weeks of their season because his arm was fatigued. Manager Bob Melvin said that Williams was driving to Houston, where he lives, from Tacoma when the Mariners notified him they needed him. … Manny Ramirez, who let a fly ball bounce off his glove for an error to lead to four unearned runs in Thursday night’s 7-1 loss to Seattle, made a leaping catch into the wall of Jolbert Cabrera’s foul ball to end the Mariners’ fourth. … The Mariners are on a pace to lose 102 games, their first 100-loss season in 21 years. … Boston’s Jason Varitek’s 15-game hitting streak ended. … Boston has made five errors in the series.