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Seattle Mariners

Mariners tag Chris Sale, rout defending champion Red Sox 12-4

Seattle’s Tim Beckham watches his two-run home run against the Boston Red Sox during the third inning Thursday in Seattle. The homer was Beckham’s second of the day. (Ted S. Warren / AP)
By Tim Booth Associated Press

SEATTLE – Tim Beckham, Domingo Santana and Seattle’s hodgepodge of new faces sent the defending World Series champions to a deflating start.

The Mariners didn’t just knock off Boston. They thumped the Red Sox and their ace, Chris Sale.

Beckham hit two of Seattle’s three home runs off Sale, and the Mariners improved to 3-0 with a 12-4 victory in their home opener Thursday.

The Mariners followed up their two wins over Oakland last week in Japan by rattling Sale and knocking out the lefty who had dominated Seattle in the past. Sale was done after just three innings, while the Mariners were just getting started on their big offensive day.

“We like our team. It’s a different look to our team. I get that. It’s not the household names, the names you are used to seeing in our lineup,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “But these guys can play, and I’ve said it all along, as this season goes along I think fans will have plenty of guys to latch onto, because we certainly have personality on this team. You saw some of that come out today.”

Beckham did the most damage, hitting a solo homer in the second and following up in the third with a two-run shot to center field. The infielder was hitless in 15 career at-bats with nine strikeouts against Sale before hitting his second and third home runs of the season.

“I know the past history. I don’t care about that,” Beckham said. “He still has to come out and throw the ball. I respect him – he’s a really good pitcher. I wanted to see something up in the zone I could handle. … He normally gets me with the fastball up. I was looking for the one up, and I got a good pitch to hit.”

Edwin Encarnacion added a solo shot off Sale as part of a four-run third inning. Ryon Healy and Santana both homered against Boston’s bullpen as Seattle finished with five homers.

Santana has nine RBIs in three games, the most in team history after the season’s first three games. He had 20 RBIs in 85 games last year with Milwaukee.

Sale had overpowered Seattle the previous three times he faced the Mariners, with double-digit strikeouts in all three outings. It appeared he was headed for another dominant performance that would have delighted the numerous red-clad fans who showed up at T-Mobile Park to see the World Series champs. Sale struck out the side with ease in the first inning.

His Opening Day outing fell apart quickly from there.

“It’s 2-0 and I’m going out there in the second inning, and I pretty much deflated us,” Sale said. “Three runs, it’s a one-run ballgame, anything can happen and I just go out there and stink the place up. That’s not what I needed to do.”

Beckham’s homer started Sale’s problems, but it was his inability to finish off the second inning that raised his pitch count and led to two runs. Sale issued a two-out walk to David Freitas, gave up a single to Dee Gordon and hit Mitch Haniger with a pitch, loading the bases.

Santana drove in a pair with a double into the right-field corner, and further damage was averted when Haniger was thrown out at the plate. But Sale, already on a limited pitch count, was pulled after giving up four more runs in the third inning and reaching 76 pitches.

Boston manager Alex Cora singled out Santana’s double as a key at-bat.

“Today was not a good one. Sometimes you make mistakes and they miss it, but they didn’t,” Cora said. “The double down the line, that was a tough one.”