Logan Gilbert battered in 7-run third inning, Mariners routed by Red Sox

BOSTON – The third inning could have, and should have, ended on two different occasions without the Red Sox scoring.

But the speed and determination of Boston’s Jarren Duran, the Most Valuable Player in the 2024 All-Star Game, and the human element provided by home plate umpire Andy Fletcher, turned a brewing pitchers’ duel into an embarrassing 14-7 beatdown suffered by Logan Gilbert and the Mariners.

All the optimism, cautious for some and genuine for the others, and any momentum the Mariners had built up from the weekend sweep over the lowly White Sox and hoped to carry into Monday’s series opener vs. Boston ended with a parade of base runners before evening darkness hit Fenway Park.

“It’s crazy how games are decided oftentimes by just the narrowest of margins,” manager Scott Servais said. “And you look at a game like tonight, you wouldn’t think that.”

Making his second start since the All-Star break, Gilbert looked dominant in the first two innings, retiring the first six hitters in order, striking out three and even hitting 100 mph with his fastball. He’d thrown 26 pitches with 17 strikes.

The third inning started off with Connor Wong singling to right field on a 2-2 curveball. Gilbert came back to strike out David Hamilton looking for the first out. Even after No. 9 hitter Ceddanne Rafaela singled to left, it looked like the Mariners would get out of the inning scoreless when Duran hit a comebacker to the mound.

Gilbert gloved the ball and fired to second base to start the double play, making sure the lead throw was true. But that slight pause to be precise allowed the ultra-speedy Duran to barely beat Dylan Moore’s throw to first.

“He flies and gets out of the box good,” Servais said. “Logan did what he could do. He threw a bullet to second. We turned it good. He just beat it out.”

In 486 plate appearances this season – the most in MLB – Duran has only grounded into two double plays.

With runners on first and third, Gilbert still only had to retire Wilyer Abreu to end the building drama. He’d already struck out Abreu swinging in the first inning, firing nothing but fastballs.

Gilbert got up 0-2 on Abreu with back-to-back split-finger fastballs. A third straight splitter was fouled off. Looking for the strike out, Gilbert fired a 98-mph fastball that ran inside on the left-handed hitting Abreu. He went back to the heater again, placing a 97-mph fastball at the lower-outside quadrant of the strike zone. Gilbert thought it was strike. Catcher Cal Raleigh held the pitch that he didn’t really need to frame too much to show it was a strike. Even Abreu seemed to back off thinking he’d watched strike three.

But Fletcher called it a ball.

Abreu’s at-bat continued despite the protests from the Mariners’ dugout.

Everything for Gilbert and Seattle imploded from that moment.

Gilbert fired a split-finger in the dirt that Raleigh couldn’t block for a wild pitch that allowed Wong to score the first run of the game.

With the count full, Abreu wouldn’t give in. He fouled off five consecutive pitches and then smacked the 12th pitch of the at-bat – a 96-mph fastball – into right field to score Duran.

Instead of finding a way to limit the damage, Gilbert, who has been the Mariners’ best starting pitcher this season, couldn’t finish the inning.

The next batter, Masataka Yoshida, ambushed a first-pitch fastball, sending it into the Red Sox bullpen for a two-run homer and a 4-0 lead.

The carnage continued:

• Rafael Devers doubled to left field
• Tyler O’Neill doubled down the third-base line to score Devers
• Domonic Smith doubled off the Green Monster in left to score O’Neill to make it 6-0.

With Gilbert having thrown 43 pitches in the inning, manager Scott Servais had to pull his starter despite being short-handed in the bullpen.

Gilbert’s departure didn’t stop the run-scoring fiesta. Trent Thornton gave up a double to Wong that scored another run, which was charged to Gilbert. The inning mercifully came to an end when Wong was thrown out trying to steal third.

Boston scored seven runs in the third inning on six consecutive two-out hits.

Gilbert’s final line: 2 2/3 innings pitched, seven earned runs on seven hits with no walks and four strikeouts.

A promising start turned into Gilbert’s worst outing of the season. It was the first time he hadn’t pitched into the sixth inning of an outing since May 9 at Target Field when he lasted just four innings against the Twins, allowing eight runs on nine hits.

In his first 20 starts before the All-Star break, Gilbert posted a 6-5 record with 2.79 ERA. In his two outings, after the break, he’s taken the loss, allowing 12 runs (eight earned) in 10 1/3 innings pitched.

Down 7-0 after three innings, the only drama in the game would be how many runs would the Mariners allow and what position player would pitch in the rout to save the bullpen.

The Mariners picked up their first run in the top of the fourth when Randy Arozarena doubled off Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta and later scored on Jorge Polanco’s sac fly.

Thornton, who tried to pitch beyond normal usage, gave up three runs in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth before being lifted with two outs and Seattle trailing 12-1. He threw 42 pitches, which was a season high.

Arozarena hit his first homer as a Mariner in the fifth inning, sending a towering fly ball over the foul pole in left field off Pivetta. Raleigh followed with his 23rd homer of the season, smashing a ball into the right-field seats.

But the Red Sox got those two runs right back when Romy Gonzalez hit a two-run homer off Gabe Speier in the bottom of the inning.

Seattle scored four runs in the eighth inning, but that only made the score seem a little less lopsided.