Seattle Mariners use eighth-inning rally to stun Boston Red Sox 7-6
SEATTLE – It was their worst inning of the season, filled with uncharacteristic mistakes on defense and poorly located pitches from their best starting pitcher.
The Mariners had a three-run lead going into the third inning and when it ended six runs and 11 batters, five hits, two errors and two wild pitches later, they were trailing by three runs.
None of it mattered in the end.
The team that always believes it’s going to come back no matter the circumstances did it again Friday night.
Pinch hitter Denard Span laced a two-run double into the left-field corner in the bottom of the eighth to score the tying and go-ahead runs and Edwin Diaz came on to get his 26th save as the Mariners rallied for a 7-6 win over the Red Sox at a rowdy Safeco Field.
Seattle’s 21st comeback win of the season improved its overall record to 45-25 on the season.
A crowd of 44,459 watched as James Paxton and the Seattle defense fell apart in the third and seemingly destroying any chance of winning.
There was no sign of the impending implosion. The Mariners had just taken a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second off starter Rick Porcello.
And then it all fell apart.
This wasn’t just giving up a few runs on some bad plays. No, it was a complete and total failure of execution. It was easily the worst inning of baseball the Mariners have played this season.
With one out and a runner on first, Jean Segura committed his second error of the game, skipping a throw to first base that Ryon Healy couldn’t pick.
Paxton then gave up an RBI single to Brock Holt for Boston’s first run of the game. J.D. Martinez followed with a line drive to right field. Mitch Haniger didn’t get a quick read on the liner and it tipped just off the top of his glove as he tried to make a running grab. It was initially ruled an error but then later changed to a hit. Because it first appeared like Haniger would make the catch, the Red Sox runners had to hold up and didn’t score on the play. With the bases loaded, it appeared Paxton had recorded a sure out when he shattered the bat of Mitch Moreland. But the contact produced a soft liner just inside the third-base bag. Kyle Seager, who has been outstanding on those types of plays all season, let the ball skip under his glove for a two-run error that tied the game at 3.
It only got worse. Paxton fell behind 3-1 to Xander Bogaerts and gutted a fastball that was redirected over the wall in right field for a three-run homer.
After giving up a hit to Rafael Devers and walking Eduardo Nunez, Paxton was pulled from the game having thrown 35 pitches in the inning.
Chasen Bradford came in and finally ended the misery, retiring the next two batters.
A total of 11 Red Sox hitters came to the plate. They scored six runs on five hits while the Mariners committed two errors with two wild pitches.
But really a three-run deficit with that much time left in the game didn’t seem like much to conquer.
Seattle chipped away at lead. Haniger got a run back with an RBI single in the fifth inning. Mike Zunino hit a solo homer in the seventh.
But the comeback wouldn’t have been possible without the pitching of Rob Whalen, who was called up on Thursday from Triple-A Tacoma, pitched four shutout innings to allow the comeback. allowing just one run hit and giving the Mariners a chance to come back and get the win.