M’s, Broussard bounce Boston

SEATTLE – Pinch-hitter Ben Broussard hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the eighth inning and the Seattle Mariners rallied to beat the Boston Red Sox 4-3 Saturday night.

Boston, which has lost 10 of its last 13 games, wasted an opportunity to gain ground on the American League East-leading Yankees, who lost to the Los Angeles Angels 12-7. Boston remains 5 1/2 games behind New York with 33 games left and trails Minnesota by 5 1/2 games in the wild-card race after the Twins beat the White Sox 8-7 in 11 innings.

The Mariners trailed 3-2 entering the bottom half of the eighth, but Adrian Beltre led off with his 16th home run on a 0-2 pitch from reliever Mike Timlin (5-4).

Raul Ibanez followed with a single to left and moved to third on Richie Sexson’s single to right. Broussard, who came to Seattle in a July 26 trade with Cleveland, flied out to center and Ibanez scored without a throw.

J.J. Putz (3-1) struck out three in 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win.

Mike Lowell put the Red Sox ahead in the top half of the eighth with a two-out bloop single, scoring David Ortiz from second base. On the play, Manny Ramirez was thrown out at third despite the ball coming out of Beltre’s glove.

Coco Crisp homered and David Wells pitched seven innings for Boston. He allowed eight hits and two runs.

Gil Meche, who missed his last scheduled start for Seattle because of right forearm tendinitis, was overpowering early. He struck out five of the first seven batters he faced. But with two outs in the third, Crisp, who had just four hits in his previous 34 at-bats (.118), hit a 1-2 fastball into the right-field seats for his seventh homer.

Beltre hit a one-out double off Wells in the fourth and scored on Raul Ibanez’s sharp single to center.

Beltre’s double was the first hit allowed by Wells.

Mark Loretta put the Red Sox in front 2-1 in the fifth with an RBI single, but Yuniesky Betancourt tied it with his seventh home run off Wells with one out in the seventh.

The Mariners won for the fourth time in five games.

Notes

The Red Sox, with an 8-17 record this month, are guaranteed a losing August. That snaps a 13-month streak in which the club had played .500 or better. … Boston’s Kevin Youkilis, who missed Friday’s game with the flu, was available but didn’t play.