Unable to produce much offense at all from the third inning through the ninth, the Red Sox finally hit their stride in the 10th inning, erupting for six runs to roll over the Seattle Mariners, 9-4.
Kyle Schwarber had a two-run single and Christian Vazquez added a two-run double that hit the chalk in right field, fueling the 10th inning eruption.
The Sox had taken a 3-0 lead in the second, but saw their offense shuttered thereafter. The Sox used six five pitchers in relief of starter Tanner Houck to get through the game.
The win gave the Sox a series win in Seattle for the first time since 2013 and gave them a 3-3 record on their next-to-last road trip of the season.
WHO: Red Sox (82-65) vs. Seattle Mariners (78-67)
WHEN: 4:10 p.m.
WHERE: T-Mobile Park
SEASON SERIES: 3-3
SERIES TO DATE: 1-1
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Tanner Houck (0-4, 3-54) vs. RHP Marco Gonzales (8-5, 4.03)
TV/RADIO: NESN; WEEI-FM 93.7
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Hernandez CF
Renfroe RF
Bogaerts SS
Devers 3B
Martinez RF
Schwarber LF
Dalbec 1B
Plawecki C
Iglesias 2B
MARINERS
Crawford SS
Haniger RF
Seger 3B
France 1B
Toro 2B
Fraley LF
Torrens DH
Kelenic CF
Murphy C
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
T10: Christian Vazquez reaches out and flares a double on the right field line for two more runs and the rout is on.
T10: Martinez singles off the glove of J.P. Crawford, bringing home Renfroe with another run. Bases still loaded.
T10: Red Sox grab their first lead since the third inning as Jack Lopez scores from third on a passed ball by Seattle catcher Tom Murphy. Alex Verdugo on second and Renfroe on first.
T8: Sox had runners at first and second, but Kyle Schwarber flies to CF, stranding both. Sox are limited to just four hits.
T6: Red Sox don't have a hit against Gonzales since the second inning when Iglesias doubled with two outs. Since then, Gonzales has retired 13-of-14, with the only baserunner coming on a walk.
B5: Josh Taylor, in for Houck, strands two with two groundouts.
B4 Houck rebounds nicely after a 27-pitch third inning to fan the side in the fourth.
B3: Houck retired the first seven hitters he faced today, but four of the last five have reached and the one batter in that stretch who was retired, Mitch Haniger, hit a wicked liner to short.
B3: Overthrow by Renfroe to third, skips past Rafael Devers, allowing Jarred Kelenic to score and the batter-runner Tom Murphy to move into scoring position. Ruled an error for Renfroe, his third in as many game in this series and 13th this season, which is really high total for an outfielder.
T2: Jose Iglesias, who owns Marco Gonzalez (6-for-11 lifetime coming in) drives it to center for a run-scoring double.
T2: Going on contact, Kyle Schwarber is able to score from third on a groundout to first by Kevin Plawecki. Meanwhile, Dalbec takes third.
T2: Gift double for Bobby Dalbec, who hits a flyball to left that stays in the air forever and somehow drops on the warning track before hopping the wall. Second-and-third now, with one out.
T1: Hunter Renfrioe, who's had a rough series all around (seven strikeouts, two errors), gets the Sox off to a quick 1-0 start with a blast to deep center.
WHAT'S UP...:The Red Sox are 7-6 in September... They are 3-6 in their last 9 games, following a 4-game winning streak...They are 12-11 in their last 23 games. In 8 of their last 9 wins (including each of their last 5), the Red Sox were tied or trailing when they came to bat in the 7th inning. Last night, the Sox trailed 2-1 entering the 6th inning before Bobby Dalbec hit a game-tying solo HR...The clubs were tied, 2-2, entering the 8th inning before the Sox scored 5 runs in the top half of the frame. The Sox have 42 come-from-behind wins, 2nd-most in the majors behind the Rays (43). ....The Red Sox have allowed only 11 ER in their last 6 games (1.88 ERA, 52.2 IP). In the club’s last 3 games, Red Sox starting pitchers have combined to allow 3 ER in 16.1 IP (1.65 ERA): Nick Pivetta (1 ER/5.1 IP), Eduardo Rodriguez (1 ER/6.0 IP), and Nathan Eovaldi (1 ER/5.0 IP). Red Sox relievers have allowed only 2 ER in 20.2 IP (0.87 ERA) over the last 5 games...Since 7/31 (min. 100 PA), Bobby Dalbec leads the AL in SLG (.745), OPS (1.132), and wRC+ (194), trailing Bryce Harper for the MLB lead in each category (.768 SLG, 1.216 OPS, 208 wRC+)...In 36 games since 7/31, Dalbec has hit .311 (33-for-106) with 12 HR, 34 RBI, and a .387 OBP. Dalbec has 4 HR in his last 6 games...He has 8 HR and 20 RBI in his last 16 games (beginning 8/26)....The Sox have homered in 20 of their last 22 games...In that time, they rank 2nd in MLB with 40 HR (TOR-46). The Sox rank 4th in the AL and 7th in MLB with 197 HR. The Sox have hit 200+ HR in a season 12 times, most recently in 2019 (245), 2018 (208), and 2016 (208). 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 lead the majors in doubles (298) and XBH (516) and rank 5th in runs per game (5.05), 3rd in AVG (.260), 2nd in SLG (.447), and 3rd in OPS (.773). The Sox lead the majors in 2-strike RBI (302), 42 more than any other team...With 2 strikes, the Sox also lead MLB in XBH (182) and lead the AL in HR (77)...They have hit an MLB-best 18 HR in 0-2 counts. The Sox lead MLB in runs scored with 2 outs (306)... With RISP & 2 outs, the Sox lead the AL in OPS (.832). ....The Red Sox have played more games than any other team in the majors (147)...They finish the season by playing only 20 games in 25 days from 9/9-10/3. The Sox have 15 games remaining in the regular season (7 road, 8 home)...Their best 15-game stretch of the season is 12-3 from 4/5-20. 4 of the Sox’ remaining games are vs. teams with a winning record (SEA-1, NYY-3) and 11 are vs. teams with a losing record (BAL-6, WSH-3, NYM-2). SOX & M’S: The Red Sox and Mariners wrap up their season series this afternoon (3-3)...Since the start of 2016, the Sox are 18-15 against the Mariners, but just 7-10 in Seattle. A win this afternoon would give the Sox their first series win in Seattle since 2013, when they won 3 of 4 games from 7/8-11...Entering this series, the Sox were 0-3-3 in their last 6 series at T-Mobile Park....Major League Baseball will celebrate the 20th annual “Roberto Clemente Day” today. Players, managers and coaches will wear a #21 patch, with each of this year’s nominees for the Roberto Clemente Award wearing a patch recognizing their nomination...Each nominee may choose to wear #21. All Pirates players, managers and coaches will wear #21. Those who wore #21 last year may also wear the number today, as well as any additional players, managers and coaches of Puerto Rican descent who did not have the opportunity last year. ....Nathan Eovaldi is the Red Sox’ nominee for the 2021 Roberto Clemente Award...Amongst his continued support of a variety of charitable efforts since arriving in Boston in 2018, Eovaldi currently serves as the Red Sox’ Jimmy Fund Captain. Eovaldi has visited with Jimmy Fund patients during their annual trips to Fort Myers and Fenway Park, participated in the annual Red Sox Jimmy Fund RadioTelethon, recorded messages and PSA’s for the clinic, and made a monetary donation this past August. Fans can vote for the Roberto Clemente Award online at mlb.com/clemente21 and LasMayores.com/clemente21 until the end of the season on Sunday, October 3rd. ....The Sox have won each of Nathan Eovaldi’s last 5 starts...He has a 1.90 ERA and 0.96 WHIP in his last 7 starts (42.2 IP, 34 H, 9 ER, 7 BB, 56 SO). Eovaldi ranks 2nd in the AL and 4th the majors in FanGraphs’ pitching WAR (5.3)...He leads MLB in BB/9.0 IP (1.65), ranking among AL leaders in starts (T-1st, 29), IP (3rd, 168.2), ERA (5th, 3.52), WHIP (6th, 1.16), SO/9.0 IP (7th, 9.6), and SO/BB (2nd, 5.81). ....This is Rafael Devers’ 2nd time hitting 30+ HR (32 in 2019) and 2nd time recording 100+ RBI (115 in 2019)...He is only the 2nd Sox player with multiple 30/100 seasons before turning 25 (also Ted Williams). Devers ranks among the top 10 in MLB in HR (T-7th, 34), RBI (T-3rd, 103), doubles (T-7th, 34), XBH (3rd, 69), and total bases (6th, 282). PICK YOUR POISON: The Red Sox feature 6 players who have hit 20+ HR this season: Devers (34), Schwarber (29), Renfroe (27), Martinez (26), Dalbec (22), and Bogaerts (21). The Sox are the only team featuring as many as 5 players with 50+ XBH (16 teams have 0 or 1)......In 13 pinch-hit PA in September, the Sox are 5-for-11 (.455) with 2 BB, 2 doubles, and 4 RBI. ....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.
NOTES:
* Alex Cora is at somewhat of a loss over his team's sloppy defensive play. "We've got the guys (working) out there, we've got the guys (working) inside,'' said Cora. "We're doing everything possible to get repetitions. We've just got to make plays. We've been talking about this the whole time. There's nothing else we can do as a staff. We've got to put them out there and keep working and hopefully we get hot for a long period of time, playing good defense and we turn the page. But like I said before, we've been very inconsistent the whole season.''
* Cora said "there's a good chance both (Christian Arroyo and Jarren Duran) will get at-bats tonight'' for Worcester in Syracuse. Meanwhile, Matt Barnes pitches for Double A Portland in Hartford and expects Barnes to be activated Friday. All three players are currently on the COVID-IL.
* Cora had planned to give Xander Bogaerts a day off today, but kept him in the lineup. "He feels good, he's swinging the bat well and he doesn't need it,'' said Cora. "He told me (Tuesday) night, 'I'm good to go.' That's good enough for me.''
* Kevin Plawecki got the start again over Christian Vazquez with a lefty on the mound for Seattle. "We need to maximize our lineup against lefties,'' Cora said. "Plow has been really good against lefties and Christian, for whatever reason this year, has struggled. But (Vazquez) will be back again Friday.''
* Wednesday is Roberto Clemente Day in MLB, and the late outfielder is a hero of Cora's. "He's great,' said Cora. "It's a day that's very special for everybody, not only for us as Puerto Ricans. I think Clemente means more than just to our community and race. The way he conducted himself -- on the field and off the field -- and the way he went about it, was very impressive. For us, he was a Hall of Famer on the field. And if there's a Hall of Fame above the Hall of Fame off the field, he's in that. He lived his life with conviction, very firm, wasn't afraid to let people know where he was from and what he represented. His family has done an amazing job to keep the legacy (alive). They've been great in Pittsburgh, they've been great in Puerto Rico and we're very proud of them.''