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Seattle Knocks Down Pivetta, Red Sox

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SEATTLE – (Staff and Wire Service Report from Field Level Media) – Seattle’s Cal Raleigh hit two solo home runs as the Mariners defeated the visiting Boston Red Sox 6-2 on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series.

Julio Rodriguez added a two-run single in a four-run eighth inning as the Mariners pulled away.

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The Mariners won for the fifth time in their past six games and finished July with a 17-9 record, tied with Baltimore for the second-best mark in the majors. Boston’s 15-8 record was the month’s best.

Rafael Devers went 3-for-4 for the Red Sox, who took their third consecutive defeat.

Raleigh hit both his homers off right-hander Nick Pivetta (7-6), who was making his first start since beating the Mariners 9-4 on May 16 in Boston. Pivetta gave up three runs on five hits in 7 1/3 innings, with no walks and 10 strikeouts.

Raleigh broke a one-all tie with one out in the seventh, hammering a 1-1 slider just inside the right field foul pole.

Sox Visit Seattle for 3-Game Set

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SEATTLE – (Staff and Wire Service Report – The Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners have been playing better than anyone this month as they attempt to chase down American League wild-card berths.

The two teams open a three-game series tonight in Seattle.

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Despite losing their past two games in San Francisco, the Red Sox have a major-league-best .682 winning percentage in July, going 15-7.

The Mariners, who just completed a six-game road trip in which they took two of three games at both Minnesota and Arizona, are 16-9 with a .640 winning percentage this month — matching the Baltimore Orioles for the second-best winning percentage in July behind the Sox.

Tampa Bay begins Monday with a four-game lead in the AL’s wild-card race, with Toronto and Houston tied for the remaining two berths. The Red Sox are 2 1/2 games back of the Blue Jays and Astros, while the Mariners are 4 1/2 out.

“Guys know where we’re at in the season, quite frankly, and they know we needed to play well to put themselves in a position with 48 hours here ahead of the trade deadline,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said after Sunday’s 4-0 victory against the Diamondbacks. “You see what other teams are doing in our division.

“Our guys want to go after it. I credit them. They are super competitive. We went 4-2 on this trip and very easily could’ve gone 6-0. It’s a credit to our players. They want to push. They want to go for it.”

Luis Castillo, acquired at last year’s deadline from Cincinnati, pitched six innings of two-hit ball and struck out seven on Sunday, while leadoff hitter J.P. Crawford doubled, homered and scored three times.

The Red Sox lost their series finale 4-3 to the Giants in 11 innings on Sunday despite home runs by Justin Turner and Adam Duvall.

“I feel like we’re playing the right brand of baseball at the right time,” Duvall said last week. “We’ve got to keep continuing to build as a team, to continue to get better at the little things, and it’ll be fun to see how good we can be.”

On Monday, Red Sox right-hander Nick Pivetta (7-5, 4.11 ERA) is scheduled to make his first start since beating the Mariners 9-4 on May 16 despite allowing four runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings, with four walks and six strikeouts.

Since his prior assignments for bullpen duty, Pivetta has a 1.98 ERA, holding batters to a .128 average.

Pivetta pitched five scoreless innings of relief on Tuesday in a 7-1 victory against visiting Atlanta, allowing three hits and one walk, and striking out five.

“Yeah, whenever my name is called from the bullpen, however long I pitch, it’s just what I do,” said Pivetta, who is 1-0 with a 4.76 ERA in two career starts covering 11 1/3 innings against Seattle. “I just go out and try to put us in the best position to win.”

The Mariners are set to start right-hander George Kirby (9-8, 3.49), who is 1-1 with a 4.86 ERA in three career starts against the Red Sox. That includes a 10-1 victory on May 15 in Boston in which he allowed one run on eight hits in 6 2/3 innings, with one walk and six strikeouts.

Davis HR Beats Jansen, Red Sox

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SAN FRANCISCO – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – J.D. Davis of San Francisco belted Red Sox reliever Kenley Jansen‘s first pitch of the bottom of the ninth inning over the left field wall, giving the Giants a game-winning, 3-2, victory over Boston on Saturday.

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Davis’ homer, his 14th of the season, came shortly after the Red Sox had scored twice off Giants closer Camilo Doval in the top of the ninth, drawing even on a two-run single by Justin Turner.

Despite suffering his third blown save of the season, Doval (3-3) was credited with the win. Jansen (2-5) took the loss.

The dramatic ending came after Sean Manaea had combined with opener Ryan Walker and set-up reliever Tyler Rogers to take a 2-0 lead into the ninth.

Casas Leads Red Sox Over SF Giants

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SAN FRANCISCO – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Sox first baseman Triston Casas doubled, homered and drove in two runs, reliever Josh Winckowski pitched out of a seventh-inning jam to protect a one-run lead and the Boston Red Sox opened a three-game road inter-league series with a 3-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants Friday night.

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Boston OF Rob Refsnyder drove in a key run with a pinch-hit single and Sox starter Kutter Crawford (5-5) struck out seven in 5 2/3 innings for the Red Sox, who were opening a six-game West Coast swing.

Casas produced all the game’s scoring in the first five innings with a second-inning double that plated Adam Duvall, who also had doubled, and a fifth-inning solo homer, his 16th of the season.

The Giants got one back in the sixth when Marco Luciano recorded his first big-league hit, a single off third baseman Rafael Devers’ glove, and scored his first big-league run on a single by Michael Conforto.

Crawford was pulled after 5 2/3 innings, having allowed just one run and three hits. He walked one to complement his seven strikeouts.

Down 2-1, the Giants got back-to-back singles from J.D. Davis and Patrick Bailey to open the seventh, but Winckowski retired the next three batters, including a pair of strikeouts after Davis, the potential tying run, had reached third with one out.

Refsnyder’s hit came in the top of the eighth, scoring Connor Wong, who had singled, to produce what turned out to be the difference-making run.

Giants starter Logan Webb (8-9) was lifted one out into the eighth, charged with all three Boston runs on six hits. He walked none and struck out four.

San Francisco immediately got back within a run when Joc Pederson smacked his 11th homer of the year against Chris Martin leading off the last of the eighth. But Martin retired the next three batters he faced to close out the inning, before Kenley Jansen threw a 1-2-3 ninth with two strikeouts for his 23rd save.

Sox Experience Power Surge

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – A barrage of three home runs in the late innings helped the Boston Red Sox top the visiting Atlanta Braves 5-3 to complete a two-game series sweep on Wednesday night.

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Rafael Devers, Triston Casas and Adam Duvall all homered for Boston, which has won four straight. Justin Turner hit a two-run double that flipped the score for good in the seventh.

Turner, Casas and Connor Wong all had multi-hit games to support Brayan Bello, who allowed three runs on four hits over his six innings. Joe Jacques (2-1) followed with a scoreless inning to earn the win.

The early duel began with Bello erasing Atlanta’s first two hits with double play balls, helping him face just one batter over the minimum through the first five innings.

One swing of the bat broke the game open for the Braves in the sixth after Harris lined a leadoff double to center and Ronald Acuna Jr. was hit by a pitch. Ozzie Albies ripped a three-run homer into the right-center field bullpen.

Albies was 2-for-4 to lead the six-hit offense for the Braves, who have lost three of their last four games.

Harris’ double made him the first Atlanta runner in scoring position in the game.

The Red Sox quickly broke the shutout bid in the sixth when Devers golfed a two-out solo homer out to right. Spencer Strider had started the inning with back-to-back strikeouts, helping him reach double digits for the ninth time this season.

Boston chased Strider (6 1/3 innings, two runs, six hits, 10 strikeouts, one walk) with one out in the seventh after Casas homered to center and Connor Wong followed with a single. The homer marked Casas’ third during a five-game hit streak.

Two batters after Pierce Johnson (1-6) entered, Turner hit a two-out double to left that lifted Boston to its first lead.

Duvall’s solo homer extended the Boston lead in the eighth.

Kenley Jansen worked out of a two-on, one-out jam to post his 22nd save.

–Field Level Media

Red Sox Take Series vs NY Mets

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Sunday Night Baseball: It Wasn’t Pretty

BOSTON – If there’s a Hall of Fame for Fundamentally Sound Major League Baseball games, the Sunday Night game between the Mets and Red Sox might qualify for the worst of the worst.

Sox 3B Rafael Devers homered and Adam Duvall collected two hits, two RBIs and scored a run to help the Boston Red Sox defeat the visiting New York Mets 6-1 on Sunday night in the final game of a three-game series.

Devers capped the scoring by hitting a solo home run — his 24th homer of the season — in the seventh inning.

Connor Wong had three hits for Boston, which had 15 hits in the game. Devers, Triston Casas, Jarren Duran and Enrique Hernandez also had two-hit games for Boston. Masataka Yoshida (0 for 5) was the only player in Boston’s batting order who didn’t collect at least one hit.

Brandon Nimmo collected two of New York’s six hits.

Boston’s Chris Murphy (1-0) allowed one run in 3 2/3 innings of relief to earn the win. The left-hander, one of seven pitchers Sox Manager Alex Cora used in the game, gave up three hits, struck out three and walked two.

New York’s Carlos Carrasco (3-4) allowed five runs on 10 hits in 2 1/3 innings (58 pitches). He failed to complete five innings for the fifth time in his last seven starts.

The teams split the first two games in the series. New York won the opener 5-4, but Boston won the second matchup 8-6.

Duvall’s single in the first inning scored Justin Turner to give Boston a 1-0 lead.

The Red Sox collected seven consecutive hits in the third, when they scored four runs to extend their lead to 5-0. The inning included an RBI double by Duvall that scored Turner, an RBI single by Casas that scored Duvall, and an RBI single by Yu Chang that scored Casas. Wong added the fourth run when he scored on Drew Smith’s wild pitch.

The Mets scored in the sixth on a Francisco Lindor single that drove in Danny Mendick, who reached on a walk.

–Field Level Media

Red Sox Master Long Ball vs, Mets

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BOSTON – Red Sox 1B Triston Casas hit two home runs as Boston ended a three-game losing streak by beating the visiting New York Mets 8-6 on Saturday night. Casas hit a solo shot in the second inning, and a two-run home run that broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth. It was the first multi-homer game in Casas’ major league career.

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Boston also received solo home runs from Jarren Duran and Yu Chang and a two-run homer from Justin Turner. Duran’s homer came in the first inning, Chang went deep in the fifth and Turner hit his home run in the seventh.

Four of the five home runs came against Mets starter Max Scherzer (8-4), who gave up five runs on six hits in six innings. Scherzer struck out seven and walked two.

Boston starter James Paxton (6-2) limited the Mets to three runs (two earned) on three hits in six innings. He recorded seven strikeouts and one walk.

Boston built a 2-0 lead on home runs from Duran and Casas, but the Mets went in front by scoring three runs in the fourth. Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso scored on Jeff McNeil’s two-out single, and McNeil came around to score on the play when catcher Jorge Alfaro threw the ball into center field attempting to throw him out at second.

Chang’s home run tied the game in the fifth before Casas put Boston in front, 5-3, by hitting his 14th home run of the season.

Boston took an 8-3 lead in the seventh. Masataka Yoshida’s RBI single drove in Duran before Turner hit his two-run homer.

The Mets, who beat the Red Sox 5-4 earlier Saturday in the conclusion of Friday’s suspended game, scored three times in the ninth. Alonso tripled and scored on a Francisco Alvarez single, Mark Vientos drove in Alvarez with a single and Brett Baty’s single scored Vientos to make it 8-6.

Kenley Jansen recorded the final out to earn his 21st save.

–Field Level Media

Bello to Face A’s in Day Game

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OAKLAND – Boston right-hander Brayan Bello isn’t close to arbitration eligibility, yet his impressive pitching has the Red Sox already thinking about offering the second-year player a contract extension.

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Bello is 7-5 with a 3.14 ERA this season, and he has been even more impressive lately, going 4-1 with a 2.21 ERA in his past six starts. He is scheduled to pitch this afternoon in Oakland in the rubber game of a three-game set against the Athletics.

Opposing Bello will be Oakland left-hander Ken Waldichuk (2-6, 6.66 ERA).

With the exception of a three-batter hiccup by opener Joe Jacques on Tuesday, the Red Sox have pitched brilliantly in the first two games against the A’s, winning 7-0 on Monday before falling 3-0 in the rematch.

Bello is 2-0 in July, having beaten the visiting Texas Rangers before the All-Star break and then the host Chicago Cubs in his first start back.

The 24-year-old has been so impressive of late, Red Sox assistant general manager Eddie Romero acknowledged this week that the club would consider locking up Bello for years to come.

“It’s all case by case. There’s no guidebook for it,” Romero said. “But I think Brayan is a special case, and we’ll make efforts to talk to him and his group. He’s basically done what he needs to do and what we would want of a young starting pitcher in this organization.

Bernardino, Pivetta, Martin Blank A’s

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OAKLAND – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Nick Pivetta combined with opener Brennan Bernardino and closer Chris Martin on a one-hit shutout as the Boston Red Sox beat the host Oakland Athletics 7-0 on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series.

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Connor Wong collected two singles, a double and three RBIs for the Red Sox, who beat the A’s for the fourth time in 11 days.

With star third baseman Rafael Devers (calf) on the bench, Boston put up single runs in the first and second innings before Pivetta (6-5) took the mound.

Making his third start of the season, Bernardino allowed a single to Ryan Noda, the third batter he faced, but no other hits before handing a 2-0 lead to Pivetta after two innings.

Pivetta was even more dominant, holding the A’s hitless over six innings while matching his career high with 13 strikeouts. The right-hander walked two. Martin struck out three of the four batters he faced in the ninth, giving the Red Sox trio 18 strikeouts among 27 outs.

Justin Turner’s sacrifice fly and an RBI single by Wong produced the 2-0 lead before Boston broke the game open with a four-run sixth. Wong had a two-run double in the middle of the uprising, which also featured a sacrifice fly by Adam Duvall and an RBI groundout by Yu Chang.

A’s starter Paul Blackburn (1-2) was pulled two outs into the inning, charged with six runs on nine hits. He walked two and struck out three.

Boston tacked on a run in the ninth when Turner capped a two-RBI game with a run-scoring fielder’s choice.

Turner, Duvall, Alex Verdugo and Jarren Duran joined Wong with doubles for the Red Sox, who won for the 11th time in their past 13 games. The visitors had as many doubles (five) as singles (five) in their 10-hit attack.

Eight of the nine hitters in Boston’s lineup recorded at least one hit.

The shutout defeat was the 11th of the season for the A’s, who have lost eight in a row, matching their second-longest losing streak of the season. They had an 11-game skid in May.

–Field Level Media

Red Sox Expecting Return of Devers

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OAKLAND – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The visiting Boston Red Sox hope to have Rafael Devers back in the lineup when they go for a second straight win over the reeling Oakland Athletics tonight.

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With Devers being held out as a precaution due to a tight right calf, veteran Justin Turner slid over to third base and contributed a double, a run and two RBIs to a 7-0 triumph over the A’s in Monday’s series opener.

The double advanced Turner’s hitting streak to 13 games, during which he’s gone 20-for-49 (.408), raising his average from .271 to .290 in the process.

Should Devers return to action on Tuesday, Turner could move to second base — or first base or maybe even DH. The amazing part about his 13-game streak is that it’s come even as he has been shuffled among four different positions.

It also came immediately following a 4-for-28 (.143) stretch that saw his average drop 13 points.

When asked Monday to pinpoint what he’s done differently of late, Turner admitted: Nothing.

“There’s obviously a lot of variables and a lot of aspects to hitting,” he said. “Nowadays, with so many hitting coaches and swing coaches and swing gadgets, everyone’s so fast to overhaul or change things or use these gadgets because they think their swing isn’t working. The reality is: Your swing is fine but your timing is not.

“That is probably kind of a big issue in the game right now, (players) creating dependency on outside hitting people and all these drills and gimmicks to trick you into thinking you need all this stuff to be successful.”Turner was among eight Red Sox starters who had hits in the Monday win, Boston’s 11th victory in the past 13 games. At a position to be determined, he will take his cracks in the rematch against A’s right-hander Luis Medina (2-7, 6.34 ERA).

The 24-year-old rookie got a no-decision in Oakland’s 7-3 loss at Boston on July 7, allowing four runs in six innings while striking out a season-best nine. It was his first appearance against the Red Sox.

Medina won his previous start at home against the Chicago White Sox, a 7-4 victory in which he went five innings, allowing just one run.

The Red Sox used an opener approach in the Monday win, and it worked spectacularly. Three pitchers combined on a one-hitter in which the A’s got just five baserunners (a single, three walks and a hit batter) while striking out a total of 18 times.

Afterward, rather than blame fatigue following a hard-fought, three-game sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Twins that ended Sunday, A’s manager Mark Kotsay chose to praise Nick Pivetta, the second of Boston’s three pitchers on Monday. Pivetta pitched no-hit six innings and struck out 13.

“You run into a buzzsaw sometimes. This seemed to be one of those nights,” said Kotsay, whose team has lost eight in a row. “You just got to tip your cap sometimes.”

The Red Sox are expected to use a similar tactic on Tuesday, with left-hander Chris Murphy (0-0, 2.16 ERA) serving either as the opener or the bulk-innings reliever.

The 25-year-old California native worked the second through fourth innings in a July 9 home win over the A’s — the first time he’d ever faced them — allowing one run on two hits.

–Field Level Media.