BOSTON — Throughout an 162-game season, missed calls can both cost and hand games to teams. On Monday night at Fenway, the Red Sox benefitted greatly from one.
Mariners starter Logan Gilbert didn’t get a strike-three call on a 1-2 count to Wilyer Abreu with two outs in the third and the floodgates opened for one of Boston’s best innings of the year. The Red Sox laced five extra-base hits and scored seven runs in the frame — all with two outs — and went on to beat the Mariners, 14-7, in the opener of a key series between two wild card contenders.
The Red Sox combined for 16 hits with Jarren Duran, Abreu, Masataka Yoshida, Dom Smith and Connor Wong all posting multi-hit affairs. Yoshida led the way, going 3-for-5 with four RBIs; he fell a triple short of the cycle as the Red Sox improved to 56-49.
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Like Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta, Gilbert was perfect through his first two innings. The third was a different story altogether. Wong led off with a single, then after Ceddanne Rafaela got a hit of his own, the Sox had runners on second and third with two outs. With a 1-2 count on Abreu, Gilbert unleashed a 97.8 mph fastball that caught much of the bottom of the zone. Home plate umpire Andy Fletcher didn’t think so. From there, it was all Red Sox.
The next Gilbert offering was a wild pitch that plated Wong for the game’s opening run. Abreu then worked a 12-pitch at-bat before lacing an RBI single to make it 2-0. The dam then opened wide. Yoshida’s fifth homer of the season made it 4-0. Rafael Devers, Tyler O’Neill and Smith had back-to-back-to-back doubles to make it 6-0. And after Trent Thornton replaced Gilbert, Wong made it 7-0 with Boston’s fourth consecutive double — and the Sox’ eighth hit of the inning, tying a season-high.
Gilbert, an All-Star, watched his ERA balloon from 2.72 to 3.11 in his shortest start of the season (and just the second time in 22 starts he has not pitched into the sixth. Pivetta, on the other hand, cruised for most of the game before a couple late homers skewed his line. He went 6 ⅔ innings and was tagged with three runs on six hits while striking out 10.
The first Seattle run came in the top of the fourth when Randy Arozarena hit a leadoff double and scored on a Jorge Polanco sac fly. The Sox’ offense answered that with three more runs off Thornton in the bottom of the fourth as Abreu (RBI double) and Yoshida (two-run single) stayed hot.
Smith made it a double-digit lead with a solo homer in the fifth, his sixth of the season. After a Polanco throwing error extended the inning, Jarren Duran made it 12-1 with an RBI double, his second two-bagger in as many innings. In the sixth, Arozarena and Cal Raleigh went back-to-back with homers down the right field line and it became 12-3. The Red Sox once again expanded their lead when Romy Gonzalez hit a pinch-hit two-run homer off lefty Gabe Speier.
Trey Wingenter’s return to the majors didn’t go well after he replaced Pivetta. The Mariners tagged him for three runs and four hits in the eighth inning as the righty’s ERA rose to 27.00 in two major league outings this year.
Paxton to make Sox season debut on deadline day
While the big story of Tuesday will be the 6 p.m. ET trade deadline, the Red Sox also have a game to play. It’ll prominently feature one of their early trade acquisitions as left-hander James Paxton (8-2, 4.43 ERA with the Dodgers) will make his first start in a Red Sox uniform this season after being acquired from Los Angeles last week. The Mariners will send tough righty Luis Castillo (8-10, 3.38 ERA) to the mound.
First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. ET.
