A costly error by Kyle Schwarber opened the door for a big inning for the Seattle Mariners, who defeated the Red Sox, 5-4.
Schwarber bobbled a ball with two outs in the seventh, and two hitters later, Mitch Haniger cranked a three-run homer, snapping what had been a 2-2 tie.
The Sox used consecutive solo homers from Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers to come with a run in the eighth but could get no closer.
Of the five runs allowed by the Red Sox, four were unearned. An error by Hunter Renfroe contributed to a Seattle run in the second.
WHO: Red Sox (81-64) vs. Seattle Mariners (77-66)
WHEN: 10:10 p.m.
WHERE: T-Mobile Park
SEASON SERIES TO DATE: 2-2
STARTING PITCHERS: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (11-8, 5.15) vs. RHP Logan Gilbert (5-5, 5.10)
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI-FM 93.7
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Hernandez CF
Schwarber 1B
Bogaerts SS
Devers 3B
Martinez DH
Verdugo LF
Renfroe RF
Vazquez C
Iglesias 2B
MARINERS
Crawford SS
Haniger RF
France 1B
Seager 3B
Toro 2B
Torrens DH
Murphy C
Kelenic CF
Moore LF
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
T8: Back-to-back homers from Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers, bringing the Sox to within a run. Ninth time this season Sox have gone back-to-back this season.
B7: A critical error by first baseman Kyle Scwarber opens the door for a huge inning. Schwarber's bobble of a one-hopper behind the bag set the stage for a three-run homer by Haniger off Ryan Brasier.
T5: Iglesias, who homered earlier, dumps a ball into shallow right, falling between Haniger and second baseman Abraham Tora, scoring Alex Verdugo from third, tying the game.
B4: Rodriguez has settled into a nice groove here after the first inning. He's got four strikeouts over the last two innings, and he's been more efficient, too, with 28 pitches in innings 3 and 4 after 51 pitches in the first two.
B3: On a night when the Red Sox could use some length because of their bullpen usage over the weekend. Rodriguez has already thrown 67 pitches over just three innings.
T3: Jose iglesias gets a hanging slider and hits a line drive to left that just clears the fence, getting the Red Sox on the board. First homer for Iglesias.
B2: Nice backhand play by Xander Bogaerts, who stops a smash from Tom Murphy going into left and gets a forceout at second. But a leadoff walk and an error by Hunter Renfroe prove costly and the Mariners have another run.
T2: Once again, the Red Sox are having trouble putting the ball in play. They struck out 28 times in the previous two games in Chicago, and through two innings, they've fanned four miles.
B1: Mariners score first, with a leadoff double by J.P. Crawford, a single to left from Mitch Haniger, and a double-play ball.
WHAT'S UP The Red Sox are 6-5 in September... They are 2-5 in their last 7 games, following a 4-game winning streak...They are 11-10 in their last 21 games...In 7 of their last 8 wins (including each of their last 4), the Red Sox were tied or trailing when they came to bat in the 7th inning. The Sox have 41 come-from-behind wins, 2nd-most in the majors behind the Rays (43). Each of the Sox’ last 3 wins has been by 1 run...They are 26-17 (.605) in 1-run games, MLB’s 5th-best record. ...The Red Sox have allowed only 8 ER in their last 4 games (2.00 ERA, 36.0 IP)...Red Sox relievers have allowed only 2 ER in their last 15.2 IP (1.15 ERA)...The Red Sox have homered in 18 of their last 20 games...They rank 4th in the AL and 8th in the majors with 191 HR. The Sox lead MLB with 36 HR with at least 2 runners on base (33 three-run, 3 grand slams). The Sox have hit 4+ HR in a game 13 times, 2nd-most in franchise history (15 times in 1977)...The Red Sox have played more games than any other team in the majors (145)...They finish the season by playing only 20 games in 25 days from 9/9-10/3. The Sox have 17 games remaining in the regular season (9 road, 8 home)...Their best 17-game stretch of the season is 13-4 (6/14-7/2). 8 of the Sox’ remaining games are vs. teams with at least a .500 record (SEA-3, NYY-3, NYM-2) and 9 are vs. teams with a losing record (BAL-6, WSH-3)....The Red Sox have used 55 players this season, tied for their 2nd-most in franchise history...They used 56 players in 2012, and 55 in 1996 and 2014. The Sox have used 32 pitchers, their most in franchise history...That does not include 4 position players who have pitched (Araúz, Arroyo, Gonzalez, Plawecki). 9 players have made their MLB debut with the Red Sox this season (Bazardo, Crawford, Duran, Espinal, López, Sawamura, Seabold, Whitlock, and Wong.... The Red Sox and Mariners split their 4-game series at Fenway Park in April...Since the start of 2016, the Sox are 17-14 against the Mariners, but just 6-9 in Seattle. Since the start of 2003, the Red Sox are 105-130 (.447) in the Pacific Time Zone, which includes games at LAA, OAK, LAD, SD, and SF...Against those same teams at Fenway Park in that same time, they are 147-82 (.642). ...The Red Sox are 7-16 in their last 23 road games, but 5-5 in their last 10...They are 0-3-3 in their last 6 series at T-Mobile Park...The Sox’ last series win in Seattle was in 2013, winning 3 of 4 games from 7/8-11. The Sox have averaged 5.7 runs per game at home (1st in AL), compared to 4.3 on the road (10th in AL.)...The Red Sox are 10-5 (.667) in extra-inning games, MLB’s 5th-best record...They are 7-1 in extra-inning games on the road, the best record in the majors among teams who have played at least 4 extra-inning road games. Prior to 2021, the last seasons in which the Sox won as many as 7 extra-inning games on the road were 2017 (8-2), 2003 (7-4), and 1982 (7-3)....Since 7/31 (min. 100 PA), Bobby Dalbec leads the AL in SLG (.728), OPS (1.116), and wRC+ (190), trailing Bryce Harper for the MLB lead in each category (.770 SLG, 1.217 OPS, 208 wRC+). In 35 games since 7/31, Dalbec has hit .311 (32-for103) with 11 HR, 33 RBI, and a .388 OBP...He has 7 HR and 19 RBI in his last 15 games (beginning 8/26). ...The Red Sox lead the majors in doubles (296) and XBH (507) and rank 4th in runs per game (5.04), 3rd in AVG (.260), 2nd in SLG (.445), and 3rd in OPS (.772). The Sox lead the majors in 2-strike RBI (294), 37 more than any other team...With 2 strikes, the Sox also lead MLB in XBH (177) and lead the AL in HR (74)...They have hit an MLB-best 18 HR in 0-2 counts. The Sox lead the majors in runs scored with 2 outs (303)...With RISP & 2 outs, the Sox lead the majors in OPS (.838) and lead the AL in AVG (.265). ....The Red Sox feature 6 players who have hit 20+ HR this season: Devers (33), Schwarber (29), Renfroe (27), Martinez (25), Dalbec (21), and Bogaerts (20). The Sox are the only team featuring as many as 5 players with 50+ XBH (17 teams have 0 or 1)....From the No. 9 spot in the batting order, the Red Sox lead the majors in HR (17) and XBH (46). The Sox have hit more than 17 HR from the No. 9 spot in the order only twice: 2003 (24) and 2011 (18)... They also hit 17 in 1999. ,,,,Red Sox outfielders lead MLB with 39 assists, their most in a season since 1992 (also 39)... They last had 40+ outfield assists in 1987 (47). Hunter Renfroe leads MLB with 16 OF assists, the most in RF by a Red Sox in the expansion era (1961-present)... According to Elias, the only other Red Sox with 15 assists in RF since 1961 is Dwight Evans (3 times)
NOTES:
* The Red Sox welcomed two relievers back to their major league roster: LHP Austin Davis (paternity list) and RHP Hirokazu Sawamura (COVID-IL). To make room on the roster, the Red Sox optioned LHP Stephen Gonsalves and RHP Brad Peacock.
* The Sox expect to activate LHP Martin Perez Tuesday. Perez spent the weekend making two rehab appearances for Triple A Worcester. Meanwhile, RHP Matt Barnes will make his second rehab appearance Wednesday for Portland at Hartford, then will rejoin the Sox when they return for the start of the final homestand beginning Friday.
* Alex Cora spoke to LHP Chris Sale (COVID-IL) Monday and Sale told the manager that he remains asymptomatic. Sale vowed to be back with the team as soon as he's cleared and Cora was optimistic that Sale could start one of the games this weekend against Baltimore.
* Christian Arroyo and Jarren Duran -- both on the COVID-IL -- are improving, but aren't quite ready to begin baseball activities.
* DH J,D. Martinez, who missed entire Chicago series with back spasms, is recovered and is in the lineup.