The Boston Red Sox saw seven straight scoreless innings Wednesday, but that didn’t stop them from tallying six runs in the 10th inning in order to capture the 9-3, series-clinching victory over the Seattle Mariners.
In just the second at-bat of the ballgame, Hunter Renfroe walloped a solo homer over the left-center field wall while fans were still finding their seats. They added on in the second inning, as after a Bobby Dalbec double put Kyle Schwarber (walk) on third, Kevin Plawecki plated Schwarber with a groundout. Jose Iglesias then proceeded to drive in Dalbec with a run-scoring double to put the Sox up 3-0 in the early going.
Tom Murphy singled into right field in the third for Seattle, and a bad throw by Hunter Renfroe to third base allowed Jared Kelenic to score, which put the Mariners on the board. J.P. Crawford walked, and Kyle Seager drove in both Crawford and Murphy with a game-tying double that Seager roped into left.
From there, the ballgame would see six consecutive scoreless frames. Tanner Houck was relieved in just the fifth by Josh Taylor after Kelenic singled and stole second to lead off the inning.
Garrett Richards would hurl a run-less two innings out of the ‘pen for Boston after Taylor finished the fifth. Austin Davis and Adam Ottavino combined for a scoreless bottom of the eighth, but Boston would see its seventh straight run-less inning from an offensive standpoint, in the top of the ninth.
Ottavino went back out for the bottom of the ninth, and with two outs, he just barely brushed Jake Bauers with a pitch, that didn’t even hit him — it just got a piece of Bauer’s pants to put him on first. Bauers stole second base, but on a 3-2 delivery from Ottavino, Kelenic struck out to send it to extras.
With the runner starting on second base to begin the 10th, an Alex Verdugo single moved Jack Lopez over to third. Lopez proceeded to score after a passed ball, and the bases were loaded after a walk from Hunter Renfroe and a bloop single from Xander Bogaerts.
Rafael Devers grounded into a forceout at home, but J.D. Martinez singled home a run on a ball that was booted by Crawford at short — but was called a hit after how hard it was hit. With the bases still loaded, Schwarber lined a two-run single into left to put Seattle’s deficit at four. The bases were reloaded after Dalbec walked, and Christian Vazquez flared another two-run single into right that just made it fair to make it 9-3.
Martin Perez allowed the runner that started at second to score on a balk and a groundout but still set the Mariners down 1-2-3, as the Sox would take the three-game series, 9-4.
Boston takes their first series in Seattle since 2013.
(Photo of Red Sox pitcher Tanner Houck/Abbie Parr/Getty Images)