The Red Sox managed to allow seven runs in a game in which they allowed just three hits. Naturally, they lost.
After the Seattle Mariners took their first lead of the night on a run-scoring double in the 10th, Mitch Haniger belted a three-run homer into the Sox bullpen to salt away a 7-3 Seattle victory.
The Sox had blown a one-run lead in the eighth when Adam Ottavino walked the first two hitters he faced, then made a costly throwing error, resulting in a tie game.
It marked only the eight time in MLB history that a team had scored as many as seven runs on three hits or fewer.
WHO: Red Sox (12-7) vs. Seattle Mariners (11-7)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SERIES TO DATE: First meeting of the year
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Nick Pivetta (2-0, 3.68) vs. RHP Justin Dunn (1-0, 3.72)
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI-FM
LINEUP
MARINERS
Haniger RF
France DH
Seager 3B
Lewis CF
White 1B
Trammell LF
Torrens C
Moore 2B
Crawford SS
RED SOX
Hernandez 2B
Verdugo CF
Martinez DH
Bogaerts SS
Devers 3B
Vazquez C
Gonzalez 1B
Renfroe RF
Cordero LF
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
T10: It's all come unglued here for the Sox in extras. Darwinzon Hernandez is lighting things on fire with two walks, a double and a three-run homers.
B8: The bottom four spots in the Red Sox order represents a sink hole tonight: collectively, 1-for-13 with five strikeouts.
T8: Brutal sequence from Adam Ottavino, who walks the first two hitters of the inning then, after field a sacrifice bunt, throws wildly to third, allowing the tying run to score. The Sox have two blown saves this season -- both by Ottavino.
B7: Leadoff triple by Kike Hernandez, who hits a Wall-scraper to left and motors to third. Mariners bring the infield in, but a wild pitch by reliever Casey Sadler enables Hernandez to score from third with the go-ahead run.
T6: One other thing that bears mention: Cordero might not have caught that ball under any circumstances, but he sure did take a funky route to the ball and didn't help himself. I take back the nice things I said about his outfield player earlier tonight.
T6: Things change in a hurry. On one pitch, Pivetta loses the no-hitter and the lead, as Ty France hits a liner over the outstretched glove of Cordero, scoring both runners before France is caught in a rundown between second and third.
T6: Pivetta has suddenly struggled with control, throwing eight balls in the span of 10 pitches, walking two.
T5: Still no hits off Pivetta through five innings. He's got just three strikeouts, but each has been looking.
B4: Hunter Renfroe, with just two hits in his previous 14 at-bats, singles sharply to right-center, scoring Devers and sending Marwin Gonzalez to third.
B4: Red Sox are running wild on Justin Dunn, with three steals in the first four innings.
T4: Franchy Cordero hasn't done much with the bat and strikes out way too much, but I'll say this: he's been about a thousand times better in the outfield than I expected him to be. Nice grab there of a ball in foul territory, up against the left field wall.
T3: Nick Pivetta is cruising -- nine up, nine down. Pivetta has consistently gotten ahead of hitters and put them away.
B2: Rafael Devers hits a line drive into the Boston bullpen for his 6th homer of the year. First homer since April 13 in Minnesota, spanning 29 at-bats.
B1: Sox miss a good chance to go up quickly, as both J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts go down swinging, stranding Verdugo.
B1: Alex Verdugo rifles a fastball over the heart of the plate and pulls into the RF corner for a one-out triple. Just the second Red Sox triple of the season.
PRE-GAME STATS: The Red Sox are tied with Oakland for the AL’s best record with both 12-7...The Red Sox’ run differential of +27 leads the AL and is second in the majors behind only the Dodgers at +38...Over their last five series, the Red Sox are 3-0-2...The Sox are fifth in the AL and 11th in the majors with a 3.73 ERA...Over their last 10 games, that ERA drops to 3.32...Sox pitchers issued eight walks in Wednesday's loss to Toronto after just four walks in the previous four games...In 14 of their 19 games to date, Red Sox starting pitchers have provided five or more innings....The Sox are 12-0 in games this season in which they've led at any time...Red Sox relievers rank are fourth in the AL and fifth in the majors with a 2.86 ERA...Over their last 10 games, the Sox’ bullpen has allowed six ER in 32.2 IP for a 1.65 ERA)....Phillips Valdez has retired each of his last 12 batters faced...Garrett Whitlock has retired each of his last 23 batters, the longest streak by a Sox pitcher since Chris Sale retired 25 straight in June 2019...The Red Sox have won their last five series at Fenway against the Mariners, going 11-4 at Fenway since the start of the 2015 season...In their last 4 home games vs. Seattle, the Sox have out-scored the Mariners, 39-8.....: The Red Sox lead the majors in runs scored (103), batting average (.285), slugging percentage (.470), OPS (.815), and doubles (48)...They have struck out in 21.9% of plate appearances, the 4th-best mark in the majors...: Xander Bogaerts (.385) and J.D. Martinez (.368) rank 5th and 8th in the majors in batting average. No other team features multiple qualifying players batting .350 or higher...Nick Pivetta is making his first career start against Seattle...The Sox are 5-0 in starts made by Pivetta dating back to last September...In three career starts at Fenway, Pivetta has a 1.98 ERA....Christian Arroyo has a five-game hitting streak while Martinez has a six-game run and Alex Verdugo has a four-game streak.
NOTES:
- Alex Cora said the Red Sox need more from lefty reliever Josh Taylor, who gave up two ninth inning runs in the loss to Toronto Wednesday night and sports a 10.80 ERA this season. "He needs to get big outs,'' Cora said. "We can't go to Darwinzon (Hernandez) in that situation, down one, trying to chase wins. If we have to chase a win, JT has to do thew job and so far, he hasn't done it. The velocity is there, the slider's OK. I do believe he's avoiding the strike zone. And when you do that, then it's bases loaded, one out and advantage to the hitter. So, get ahead and bury the guys. That's what you have to do and he hasn't done that so far.''
- Cora said he sees three pitchers as his high-leverage options when the Red Sox are leading: Hernandez, Adam Ottavino and closer Matt Barnes.
- Cora said he's willing to be patient with Kike Hernandez as the leadoff man. Hernandez has an OBP of just .284. "He's hitting the ball hard,'' Cora said. "But he hasn't been able to control the strike zone when he's ahead in the count. And we knew that coming into the season. I think he's been OK. Obviously, his spring training was amazing. Let's get (back to that). One thing for sure, it's a quality at-bat. We like that. We have to control the strike zone a little bit more and he'll do that.''
- Cora saluted the contributions of reliever Adam Ottavino. "He's made us better,'' said Cora. "It's not only what he does between the lines, it's what he does in the bullpen and the communication with the other guys. Not only roster-wise, but also things to look for and scouting-wise. He's been amazing.''
- Ottavino went to Cora in spring training and signaled to the manager that he would be OK with Barnes becoming the closer. "I've been wathcing Matt pitch from a distance for a while,'' he said. "I didn't really know what was going on. There was a lot of this 'closer competition' talk, but for me, I'm kind of focused on my job. I've been in that situation where I've been The Guy that's been The Guy in the place and had a new guy come in and kind of take that role. I didn't really want to cause any waves or anything like that. I could see (being the closer) kind of meant a lot to him and I basically told Alex, 'It's not my vital to me; I'll do the job, but at the same time, I understand that I can do other roles and do other things to help this team win, so whatever decision you make, I'm going to be comfortable with it.' That's pretty much what I wanted to convey.''
- Ottavino also had high praise for Tanner Houck. "He's nasty,'' said Ottavino. "Even last year, when he got called up, I was watching video and I was thinking, 'Oh man, he throws my slider.' Obviously, he throws it harder. We've had a number of conversations just about what things that work for me and my career and what works for him and what he feels. I really enjoy watching him throw, actually. I think he's got a really bright future for us.''