Usually the very sure Red Sox bullpen does the job. Tonight it didn’t as Mike Timlin failed miserably again in Seattle and it led to a 7-4 Mariners win. Timlin has given up 6 homeruns in his last six games at Safeco and the team has now dropped nine straight in Seattle.
The Mariners took the lead in the 6th off of Timlin. Adam Jones would reach on a Julio Lugo throwing error and he would move to second when Timlin threw the ball away on a pick off attempt. Jose Lopez tried to sacrifice Jones to third but bunted the ball back to Timlin who threw off the mark to Mike Lowell and it was runners at the corners. Yuni Betancourt would hit a weak broken bat grounder to Dustin Pedroia to score Jones and give the M’s a 5-4 lead. It was Betancourt’s 4th RBI on the night. Ichiro Suzuki was intentionally walked, Jose Vidro singled to load the bases and Jose Guillen bounced into an unassisted double play to Lugo to end the threat.
In the 7th Adrian Beltre led off with a single off, Timlin struck out Richie Sexson, it was his third whiff of the night, but Kenji Johjima followed with a two run homer into the left field seats that broke the game open and gave the Mariners a 7-4. Manny Delcarmen would then come on and get a pair of strikeouts to keep the Sox away from any further damage.
The Red Sox chipped away at Seattle starter Horacio Ramirez for single runs in each of the first three innings to grab a 3-0 lead. In the first the sox loaded bases on singles by Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and Manny Ramirez and a fourth single by Lowell would produce the games first run. On the play Manny would end up at third with Youk and Manny would be called out on a 9-4-2-5 fielder’s choice.
The Sox added a second run in the second when after loading the bases again as Wily Mo Pena was hit by a pitch, Coco Crisp singled and Lugo attempting a sacrifice bunt ended up with an infield hit. Pedroia’s double play ball brought home Pena with the run.
The Sox in the third added yet another solo run when Ortiz went yard with his 19th HR of the year and it was 3-0 Sox.
The Mariners would get a run back in the home half of third. After back-to-back singles by Betancourt and Ichiro to lead off the inning, Sox starter Jon Lester got Vidro to line out, Guillen struck out but Beltre singled to left to cut the lead to 3-1.
Seattle in the fourth started to get to Lester with one out. Jones singled for his second hit of the game, Lopez walked and Betancourt went yard to put the M’s up 4-3.
The Sox were able to tie the game in the fifth. Pedroia singled to left, Youkilis singled to center and then Ortiz drove in his second run of the game with a single to left and that chased Ramirez from the game. Sean Green came on and was able to get out of the inning with a double play and a ground out that kept the score tied.
Notes and Musings:
Lugo’s infield hit in the 2nd inning was his 21st of the season.
NESN had the B team in the studio. Eric Frede was filling in for the vacationing Tom Caron and Ken Ryan, a former Sox reliever, was in the analyst chair.
NESN’s Tina Cervasio reported that she learned from the Japanese media that Hideki Okajima hasn’t been happy with all the appearances he has been making. Now with the acquisition of Eric Gagne, manager Terry Francona can cut back on Okajima’s innings.
Sox starter Jon Lester pitched in front of a lot of his friends and family. The Lester family is from nearby Puyallup, Washington.
The Sox have now lost 9 straight at Safeco Field. It is the longest win streak by the Mariners against the Red Sox. This season the Sox are 2-5 against the Mariners.
John McLaren is 15-14 as Mariners skipper since replacing Mike Hargrove on July 2nd.
Ichiro Suzuki is one of three major leaguers to have at least 30 steals in his first seven seasons. The others are Rickey Henderson and Vince Coleman.
Seattle recalled their top prospect Adam “I am not Pac Man” Jones from Tacoma today. He started in LF and had two hits.
Since the All-Star break Manny has 7 HRs and 24 RBI.
Congratulations to WRKO’s Voice of the Red Sox Joe Castiglione and his wife, Jan on the birth of their granddaughter, Tilla Janice Romano, who was born at 5:02 p.m. yesterday…The proud parents are Kate and Mike Romano. There’s been no word on if Glenn Geffner read off the baby’s official stats from the birth report to the new parents.
