FENWAY – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Hanging on the fringe of the American League playoff race, the Seattle Mariners will look for a series win when they meet the host Boston Red Sox on Wednesday afternoon. Seattle (65-74) has 17 runs on 25 hits in the first two games of the series, quickly brushing aside a previous four-game stretch during which the team was shut out twice and scored just four runs.
Randy Arozarena hit his second home run in as many games in the Mariners’ 9-6 win on Tuesday, giving him seven RBIs in the series. Dominic Canzone and Lazaro Montes also went deep for Seattle, with the latter recording a multi-hit, multi-RBI game in his MLB debut.
“His energy is already felt,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said of Montes, 21, the organization’s No. 5 prospect.
Montes, who helped Seattle snap a five-game losing streak, became the first Mariner to record multiple hits in his MLB debut since Hall of Fame outfielder Ichiro Suzuki in 2001.
“I can’t describe how I feel in this moment right now. But I feel like I made it,” Montes said.
The Mariners on Wednesday will start right-hander Bryce Miller (4-8, 4.12 ERA), who has allowed five or more runs in three straight starts and had been set for a short-term return to the bullpen before an injury to Emerson Hancock (adductor) earlier this week.
Miller labored through 4 1/3 innings on a season-high 104 pitches on Aug. 23 against the Chicago Cubs, allowing six runs on two homers and seven walks in a 19-2 loss.
“I acknowledge that the last couple of outings definitely haven’t gone how I wanted them to. I think that just comes down to executing a pitch here, a pitch there, and getting outs … in the high-leverage situations,” Miller said.
He has lost all four of his career starts against Boston (0-4, 6.64 ERA), although he tossed five one-run innings on June 19.
A night after rallying for a 9-8, series-opening win in 10 innings, the Red Sox (75-64) made things interesting again on Tuesday, scoring the final five runs to trim a 9-1 deficit. However, it was too little, too late in their fifth loss in seven games.
Before Eli White and Jahmai Jones drove in two runs apiece to force in Seattle closer Andres Munoz on Tuesday, Mickey Gasper continued an incredible stretch with his seventh homer in 13 games. The New England native is hitting .394 with a 1.686 OPS over that span.
“I don’t assume (he’s going to hit a home run every game), but it’s been impressive,” Boston interim manager Chad Tracy said. “He’s taking great swings.”
Jones also cleared the wall as a pinch hitter in the ninth.
Trevor Story and Roman Anthony posted multi-hit games as they continued to reintegrate into the Boston lineup. Both were reactivated from injury stints on Sunday.
“At this point, there’s one goal,” Anthony said. “There always is, but I think even more so now entering September. Your eyes are kind of on one thing, which is playoff baseball.”
Boston’s Patrick Sandoval (1-3, 4.20 ERA) will start for the first time since losing 1-0 on Friday in the opener of a four-game set against the New York Yankees. The left-hander still is in search of his first win since Aug. 4th.
Against the Yankees, Sandoval matched a season high with seven strikeouts while allowing one run, three hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings. The lone run was a Paul Goldschmidt blast.
Sandoval is 0-5 with a 3.04 ERA in nine career starts against the Mariners, who were an American League West rival for his six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels.
–Field Level Media