BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Seattle Mariners scored twice in the first two innings and held on to post their second straight win, beating the host Boston Red Sox 4-3 on Thursday afternoon.

Mitch Garver socked a two-RBI double while Leo Rivas and J.P. Crawford had two hits apiece for the Mariners, supporting a six-inning effort from starter Bryan Woo (3-1). The right-hander struck out eight while allowing just two runs, three hits and one walk.

Alex Bregman went 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBIs for Boston, which managed just one hit off four Seattle relievers and struck out a total of 12 times. Andres Munoz recorded his ninth save, working around a two-out walk to Triston Casas to strike out two in the ninth.

Boston ace Garrett Crochet (2-2) struck out nine over five innings but was charged with four runs on five hits and issued a career-high five walks. The left-hander threw 110 pitches.

The Mariners scored in the first inning for the fourth straight game as Garver knocked a two-out, two-run double to deep center that Boston’s Kristian Campbell misplayed off the Green Monster.

Bregman got the home team’s offense going with a solo homer out to left-center, making it a 2-1 game after the bottom of the first frame.

Seattle continued to threaten against Crochet in the second, loading the bases on a walk to Rivas sandwiched between hits by Ben Williamson and Crawford — the trio that combined for seven hits in an 8-5 Wednesday win. The next two batters brought home runs, as Dylan Moore hit a sacrifice fly and Julio Rodriguez registered an RBI groundout.

The Red Sox got a run closer when Jarren Duran hit a one-out double and scored on Bregman’s line-drive single into the left-field corner in the third. Woo then struck out two in a 1-2-3 fourth and did not allow a hit across his final three innings.

Crochet did not allow a run after the second, but he labored while stranding multiple runners in the fourth and fifth. Boston relievers Greg Weissert and Liam Hendriks worked around traffic in their innings, with Hendriks striking out Crawford to escape the seventh frame when he walked three — two after inducing a double play — and allowed a hit to Rivas.

After Bregman’s second RBI, the Red Sox were hitless until Carlos Narvaez led off the eighth with a solo homer out past the right-field foul pole — the first run allowed by Mariners reliever Gabe Speier all season.

Trent Thornton followed Speier with two outs, and second baseman Rivas tracked down a Bregman pop fly in shallow center to end the inning.

–Field Level Media

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Boston Red Sox will turn the ball over to the ace of 2025, starter Garrett Crochet, with another series victory on the line when they meet the visiting Seattle Mariners this afternoon.

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Crochet (2-1, 1.13 ERA) has performed like the top-of-the-line pitcher that Boston envisioned, allowing a total of two earned runs in his past four starts and just two extra-base hits all season.

“When you have guys like that, I’ve been saying all along, they stop losing streaks and they continue the winning streaks,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “That’s what he did (on Saturday).”

In that contest, Crochet pitched the first six innings of a 4-3, 10-inning win for the host Red Sox against his former team, the Chicago White Sox. He struck out seven. It was Boston’s fourth straight win at the time.

Despite his impressive stats, the 25-year-old southpaw has not been fully comfortable.

“It feels good, but I feel like I’m getting away with murder. It’s only a matter of time before I get caught,” Crochet said. “I feel like the way that I’m throwing the ball isn’t up to my (standard). It’s only a matter of time before I get burned, and I’d like to avoid that. This is not the standard that I hold myself to. I expect to have my best stuff every time out.”

Crochet’s two previous career starts against Seattle both came last season, and he went 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA. On June 13, he struck out a career-high 13 but came away with a no-decision. Counting two relief appearances earlier in his career against the Mariners, Crochet is 0-1 with a 3.97 ERA in 11 1/3 innings vs. Seattle.

Crochet looks to get the Red Sox back on the track following an 8-5 loss on Wednesday. Triston Casas hit a three-run home run for the second straight game, but Boston was held to seven hits and committed two more errors, giving the Red Sox a majors-worst 27 for the season.

The Mariners have gone 10-4 since a 3-7 start to the season, including bouncing back from an 8-3 loss in the series opener on Tuesday to force a rubber game. They have yet to lose consecutive games since the rough start.

Seattle’s bottom third of the batting order, Ben Williamson, Leo Rivas and J.P. Crawford, torched Boston for seven hits and five RBIs. Crawford belted a three-run homer that put the Mariners ahead 4-0 in the fourth inning.

Crawford is 9-for-24 over his last six games, with nine of his 10 RBIs for the season coming in that span.

“At-bats up and down the lineup were excellent,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said.

Wilson will give the ball Thursday to Bryan Woo (2-1, 3.12 ERA). The right-hander has put together seven solid innings in back-to-back starts, but he took the loss to the host Toronto Blue Jays on Friday.

Woo, who has not faced Boston previously, gave up seven hits and three runs to the Blue Jays. His best outing of the season came on April 12, when he allowed a run on six hits and struck out seven Texas Rangers in Seattle.

“It seems like both times he’s been able to get through seven is a time when we really needed him to do that, and that’s a huge lift for your bullpen when he’s able to do that,” Wilson said. “He just has that ability with that fastball. He can get some quick innings from contact.”

Woo will also look to follow up a strong Wednesday outing from Emerson Hancock, who struck out seven in six innings of two-run ball.

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BOSTON – Ben Williamson, Leo Rivas and J.P. Crawford combined for seven of the team’s 13 hits while forming the bottom third of the lineup, leading the visiting Seattle Mariners past the Boston Red Sox 8-5 on Wednesday night.

The No. 9-hitting Crawford delivered the biggest blow with a three-run home run in the fourth inning. Seattle extended its lead with two more runs in both the sixth and seventh, then withstood a late comeback attempt from the home team.

Williamson was 3-for-5 with an RBI and run scored, while Rivas scored twice on a 2-for-3 night.

Seattle’s Emerson Hancock (1-1) struck out seven while allowing two runs on five hits across six innings.

Triston Casas belted a three-run homer in the eighth to make things interesting for Boston. Jarren Duran and Alex Bregman each had multiple hits for the Red Sox, who had won six of seven.

The Mariners tagged Boston’s Sean Newcomb (0-3) for a two-out run in the first as Mitch Garver scored Julio Rodriguez on a single up the middle. Newcomb escaped trouble an inning later, working around a no-outs jam that saw the bottom third of Seattle’s order load the bases on back-to-back singles and a walk. The southpaw got Dylan Moore to line into a double play before striking out Rodriguez to end the threat.

After Newcomb struck out the side to strand a runner in the third, the visitors extended their lead on Crawford’s three-run homer to right-center in the fourth. Like in the second, Williamson and Rivas set the table with knocks.

The Red Sox scored single runs in the fourth and fifth. The first one came on Romy Gonzalez’s two-out, opposite-field single that scored Trevor Story, and Rafael Devers drove in the other run with an RBI groundout.

Three of the first four Mariners singled off Josh Winckowski in the seventh, with Williamson and Crawford each driving in runs.

After the Casas homer took the game to the final margin, Andres Munoz pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his eighth save.

Newcomb struck out eight in five innings.

–Field Level Media

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Boston Red Sox are finally rolling, and they hope their first baseman might be trending in that direction, too.

Boston will be seeking its seventh victory in eight games Wednesday in the middle contest of a three-game series against the visiting Seattle Mariners.

Triston Casas hit a three-run homer to highlight Boston’s 8-3 victory on Tuesday in the series opener. The 25-year-old first baseman entered the game hitting .158 with a .229 on-base percentage, a .237 slugging percentage, one home run and four RBIs in 21 games.

Casas delivered the home run in the seventh inning against reliever Trent Thornton, extending the Red Sox’s lead to 7-3.

“I hit the first (pitch) foul, and that typically means bad luck after that,” Casas said. “I was able to get another pitch a little more in my zone and elevate it to a part of the field that I wanted to. It was a good swing. I’m gonna look to try and carry that into (Wednesday).”

Seattle, which is seeking its fifth straight series victory, went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position during the loss.

Mariners right-hander Emerson Hancock (0-1, 12.71 ERA) is scheduled to make his third start of the season on Wednesday. It will be his first career appearance against the Red Sox.

Hancock was sent to Triple-A Tacoma one day after he failed to make it out of the first inning during his March 31 start against the Detroit Tigers. He was recalled on Thursday, and his start that day against the Cincinnati Reds was encouraging. Hancock gave up a two-run home run in the first inning, but didn’t allow a run after that and struck out four in his five-inning outing.

“It was just a really good bounce-back for him,” Seattle pitching coach Pete Woodworth said, according to MLB.com. “The Detroit start was tough because he threw the ball well and they hit — the first three guys hit — and then they got really lucky and, unfortunately, it happened very quick and he threw a bunch of pitches, so we had to move on. And then we had to make a (roster) move to provide coverage for the next series.”

Sean Newcomb (0-2, 3.63 ERA) is listed as Boston’s probable starter. The left-hander is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in two career appearances against the Mariners, both of which were in relief.

The home run Casas hit on Tuesday allowed Boston to keep the back end of its bullpen fresh entering the Wednesday matchup. Left-hander Aroldis Chapman has a team-high four saves, but righty Justin Slaten has retired the last 21 batters he has faced. Slaten picked up his third save by pitching a scoreless ninth inning during Boston’s 4-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Monday.

Slaten’s 4.00 ERA is a bit misleading since he allowed four runs without recording an out in Baltimore on March 31. In his other nine outings this year, he has allowed no runs, one hit and no walks.

“He’s healthy,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “That’s the most important thing. Last year, he was a little bit banged up and he wasn’t honest with us. He wanted to keep grinding. We paid the price.

“Just keep him fresh. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish. Usage-wise, it’s been solid with him, but also a lot of off days. If we continue to do that, those guys (Slaten and Chapman) are going to be pitching at 98-100 (mph), and that’s bad news for the opposition.”

–Field Level Media

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Seattle’s Dylan Moore hit a three-run double during a five-run fifth inning that led the visiting Mariners defeat the Boston Red Sox 10-6 on Tuesday. Seattle sent 11 batters to the plate in the fifth, which included three hits, two errors, two walks and a hit batter. Moore’s two-out double gave the Mariners a 7-3 lead.

Jorge Polanco delivered his 10th homer this season and finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored for Seattle.

Rafael Devers hit his 24th home run for Boston, a three-run shot in the third inning. Devers had three hits and four RBIs in the loss. Masataka Yoshida had two hits and extended his hitting streak to seven games when he singled in the first inning.

Luis Castillo (9-10) tossed six innings to earn the win. He allowed three runs on six hits, walked one and struck out four.

James Paxton (8-3) went 4 1/3 innings and allowed six runs (three earned) on six hits. He walked one and fanned five in his first start with the Red Sox since he was acquired in a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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SEATTLE – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – For two teams trying to get back to the postseason, the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners didn’t make any earth-shattering moves this offseason. Neither got more than a fleeting mention when it came to prized free agent Shohei Ohtani or trade candidate Juan Soto.

Does either team have enough to compete in 2024?

That will be one of the top questions when they meet Thursday night in the season opener in Seattle.

The Mariners finished 88-74 last season, a game back of Toronto for the American League’s third and final wild-card berth.

Strikeout-prone sluggers Eugenio Suarez and Teoscar Hernandez are gone, via a trade and free agency, respectively. Suarez netted right-hander Carlos Vargas and backup catcher Seby Zavala from Arizona.

The Mariners sent injured left-hander Robbie Ray to San Francisco for outfielder Mitch Haniger and right-hander Anthony DeSclafani. Then they flipped DeSclafani, right-handed reliever Justin Topa and a pair of minor-leaguers to Minnesota for second baseman Jorge Polanco.

“This group is just hungry,” said Haniger, who spent one injury-prone season with the Giants following five productive years in Seattle.

“The guys in here want to win. Ultimately, being a loser is not fun. It’s really motivating just to try to get back into the playoffs and win a World Series — the No. 1 goal. It’s win the division first and get in the playoffs, and then make a run and win that last game of the season.”

The Mariners also sent right-handed reliever Isaiah Campbell to Boston for third baseman Luis Urias, and ditched the contracts of pitcher Marco Gonzales, first baseman Evan White and outfielder Jarred Kelenic to Atlanta for a pair of pitchers who won’t be available this season because of injuries.

Boston’s moves might have been even more underwhelming.

The Red Sox traded outfielder Alex Verdugo to the New York Yankees for three pitching prospects, acquired outfielder Tyler O’Neill from St. Louis, sent former ace left-hander Chris Sale to Atlanta for shortstop Marquis Grissom, and signed former All-Star closer Liam Hendriks, who is coming back from a cancer battle and Tommy John surgery.

Boston signed free agent right-hander Lucas Giolito to anchor its rotation, but he’ll miss the season with elbow surgery.

“It’s different compared to previous years,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of his youthful lineup. “This team is going to be fun to manage. We’re gonna do a lot of stuff that is probably different than in the past. We know what people think about us, but athleticism and youth helped (the Orioles) make it to the playoffs last year.

“So hopefully we can accomplish that. We’re not shying away from our goals. We just have to keep going. It’s been fun. It’s refreshing. It’s good to see good athletes out there making plays and moving around and adjusting to everything that we’re throwing at them. And I think it’s been solid so far.”

Mariners right-hander Luis Castillo (14-9, 3.34 ERA last season) is scheduled to make his fourth Opening Day start and second with Seattle. Castillo is 1-1 with a 4.09 ERA in two previous starts against Boston.

The Red Sox will counter with right-hander Brayan Bello (12-11, 4.24), who will be making his first Opening Day start. Bello is 2-0 with a 4.09 ERA in two previous starts against Seattle.

–Field Level Media

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SEATTLE – Julio Rodriguez‘s broken-bat single brought home the go-ahead run in the bottom of the seventh inning and capped the rally with a steal of home as the Seattle Mariners defeated the visiting Boston Red Sox 6-3 on Wednesday, the final day of the Red Sox west coast road trip.

The Mariners’ Cal Raleigh homered for the fifth time in six games against Boston this season. The Mariners took two of three games between these American League wild-card contenders in the series.

Jarren Duran went deep for the Red Sox, who lost for the fourth time in their past five games.

Seattle’s Matt Brash (7-3) pitched a scoreless inning of relief for the victory, and Andres Munoz worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his third save. Boston reliever John Schreiber (1-1) took the loss.

Trailing 3-0, the Mariners began their comeback in the sixth inning. Eugenio Suarez doubled to left with one out, and Raleigh followed with a two-run shot to right off Schreiber. It was Raleigh’s 17th homer of the season.

Seattle took the lead with a four-run seventh. Newly acquired Dominic Canzone led off with a walk, and Tom Murphy singled down the left-field line. Pinch-hitter Cade Marlowe greeted reliever Richard Bleier with a single to right to tie the score and leave runners at the corners.

An out later, Rodriguez hit a slow roller that trickled into left field when third baseman Rafael Devers and shortstop Yu Chang collided as the shattered bat sailed past them, scoring Murphy from third to make it 4-3. Suarez lined a run-scoring single to right to extend the lead, and, with two outs, he and Rodriguez pulled off a double steal to cap the scoring.

The Red Sox got on the scoreboard in the third as Connor Wong drew a leadoff walk, and an out later, Duran went deep to right.

The Red Sox tacked on a run in the fifth as Wong led off with a double to left, moved to third on Chang’s single and scored on Masataka Yoshida‘s two-out infield single.

Red Sox right-hander Kutter Crawford pitched five scoreless innings in his bid to win consecutive starts for the first time in his career, but the bullpen couldn’t hold the lead. Crawford allowed four hits, walked one and struck out five.

Mariners right-hander Logan Gilbert put up a quality start, giving up three runs on five hits in six innings, with three walks and five strikeouts.

–Field Level Media

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SEATTLE – (Staff and Wire Service Report from Field Level Media) – As the clock ticked down to Major League Baseball’s trade deadline on Tuesday, the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners found themselves in similar situations.

Both were multiple games back in the American League’s wild-card race and in the end made only minor moves on deadline day. The Red Sox acquired infielder Luis Urias from the Milwaukee Brewers, and the Mariners dealt for Baltimore Orioles reliever Eduard Bazardo.

The Red Sox responded with a 6-4 victory over host Seattle behind homers from Alex Verdugo and Reese McGuire, snapping a three-game losing streak. The three-game series wraps up Wednesday afternoon.

The solo shot by McGuire, who graduated from Kentwood High School in the Seattle suburbs, was his first of the season. McGuire, who was the Pittsburgh Pirates’ first-round draft pick in 2013, just returned from a rehabilitation assignment after missing more than a month with a right oblique strain.

“He’s a good player. There’s a reason he’s here,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “He worked hard to get back and we gave him a chance, and he put (up) two good at-bats.”

Both Red Sox and Mariners front-office officials said they didn’t find any fits for bigger moves at the deadline.

“We really liked what we’re building,” said Red Sox chief operating officer Chaim Bloom, whose team pulled within 1 1/2 games of a playoff position with the Tuesday win. “You’re seeing it more and more each night on the field — the core we’re building and what we’re building toward. Understanding that we’re underdogs this year right now, where we are in the playoff odds, we just tried to stay true to that.”

Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, whose team is 3 1/2 games back in the wild-card hunt, delivered a similar message.

“We didn’t want to be disruptive,” Dipoto said. “We also didn’t want to create holes. I think the team has played so well over the course of this last month and, generally speaking, over the course of the last 10 days, it’s really started to progress. It’s the first time we’ve really seen this team have this type of traction. This team has the talent to do it. We’ve always known that we have the talent to do it.

“We would have liked to have done more to help, but we did what we thought we should do. I wish we could have been more aggressive. They gave us every reason to believe in them and be more aggressive. There just wasn’t a lot to be aggressive with.”

Today’s series finale will feature a pair of right-handers, Boston’s Kutter Crawford (5-5, 3.86 ERA) and Seattle’s Logan Gilbert (9-5, 3.83).

Crawford beat the host San Francisco Giants 3-2 today as he allowed just one run on three hits in 5 2/3 innings with one walk and seven strikeouts. Crawford has faced Seattle once before, tossing five scoreless innings in a no-decision on June 12, 2022.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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