Mariners Game Recap: M’s Bats Fall Silent on Fathers Day

The Mariners squandered a nice outing from Prince Tai on Sunday afternoon, as they fell 2-1 to the Red Sox at Fenway Park in the series finale.

The Boston Red Sox squeaked out a 2-1 win this afternoon against the Seattle Mariners to take the three-game weekend series. David Price (8-4, 4.24 ERA) hurled 8 innings of 1-run ball to earn the victory for the Sox, and Edwin Diaz (0-1, 2.35 ERA) took his first loss as a big leaguer for the Mariners. Craig Kimbrel picked up his 16th save of the season after shutting the door on the M’s.

Taijuan Walker was in and out of trouble during the early part of today’s game, but he was able to keep the Red Sox off the scoreboard for five innings. Walker scattered 6 hits while striking out 3 and walking 1 en route to earning the no-decision. It may not have been a truly dominant performance for the 23-year-old righty, but he did an excellent job keeping the Mariners in the game.

The Red Sox were able to get runners on second and third base in the home half of the second, but a Travis Shaw strikeout and a Christian Vazquez line out killed the threat. Boston had runners on the corners with only one out in the third, but David Ortiz grounded into an inning ending double play to keep the game scoreless.

The Mariners finally got the scoring started in the top of the fourth inning. Franklin Gutierrez showed great patience leading off the inning, working the count full before launching his 8th homer of the season. Guti’s blast hooked in behind Pesky’s Pole in right field to give the M’s a 1-0 lead.

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Vidal Nuno was called on to work the sixth inning for the Mariners, and that decision proved to be a mistake. The funky southpaw allowed back-to-back singles leading off the inning to give the Red Sox runners on the corners with none out. Hanley Ramirez grounded out to Ketel Marte at shortstop, but Xander Bogaerts was able to score on the play. Nuno then caught Ramirez leaning at first base, and picked him off. However, Jackie Bradley Jr. replaced Ramirez at first after getting plunked.

Hitting Bradley was the final straw for Nuno, as Scott Servais brought in Edwin Diaz to get the final out of the sixth. The flame throwing youngster allowed a first pitch single to Chris Young, and then walked Shaw after an 11-pitch at bat to load the bases with two outs. Vazquez hit a screaming line-drive to the left of Marte at short, but the athletic middle-infielder made a remarkable diving catch to save a couple runs and get out of the frame.

Kyle Seager led off the seventh with a long single that careened off the Green Monster in left field. However, the next three Mariners were set down in order by David Price to keep the game knotted at 1.

The Mariners failure to capitalize in the seventh immediately came back to haunt them, as the Red Sox took the lead in the home half of the inning. Mookie Betts took Diaz deep to left field, yanking a 94 mph fastball over the Green Monster in left field for a solo homer. Betts’ 15th round-tripper of the year gave the Sox a 2-1 lead.

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Nick Vincent entered the game in the eighth inning for the Mariners. Things did not start off well, as Bradley scorched a triple that split the gap in right-center field leading off the frame. Vincent then struck out Young, and intentionally walked Shaw to set up a double play. For the second consecutive at bat, Vazquez failed to capitalize with runners in scoring position, popping out weakly to Dae-ho Lee at first base. Vincent then got Betts to ground out to end the threat, and keep it a 1-run game.

The Red Sox turned to Craig Kimbrel in the ninth, and Boston’s closer made it look easy. The Mariners put up very little fight, as they were retired in order to end the game.

With the loss, the Mariners drop to 36-33 and move to 8 games behind the Texas Rangers in the American League West. Seattle remains 1.5 games back of the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL Wildcard race.

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Looking ahead, the Mariners (36-33) will travel to the Motor City to battle the Detroit Tigers (34-34) on Monday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 pm PT tomorrow from Comerica Park. Nate Karns (5-2, 4.06 ERA) will get the ball for the Mariners in the opener, and Mike Pelfrey (1-7, 4.79 ERA) will be on the bump for the Tigers.