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.
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.