M's Secure Unlikely Victory: Weaver, Short-Handed Mariners Beat Up on the First-Place Red Sox

Jun 26, 07:59 AM

Current Headlines: By Larry Larue, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.

Jun. 26--Down two starting outfielders, starting a pitcher with one win and six losses, the Seattle Mariners squared off with the Boston Red Sox on Monday -- and it was no contest.

Coming from behind on a flurry of hits, walks and home runs, the Mariners flattened the Red Sox, 9-4, extending a mini-winning streak to three games.

Boston came in with the second-highest win total in baseball (48) and best winning percentage in the American League -- and was held to two runs by Jeff Weaver through 52/3 innings -- then shut out by the Seattle bullpen until the ninth inning.

And the Mariners?

With productive hitters Raul Ibanez and Jose Guillen sitting out with injuries, the Mariners piled up 10 hits, picked up RBI on a pair of bases-loaded walks and then hit their first back-to-back home runs of the season.

By the time Kenji Johjima and Adrian Beltre finished trotting around the bases, the Red Sox were done and 33,830 fans at Safeco Field were in a cheering frenzy.

With reason -- for the first time in what seemed like weeks, Seattle gained a game on the Los Angeles Angels and is now seven games behind in the American League West.

The win also continued the emergence of Weaver from the kind of season that gets pitchers released and managers fired.

"Jeff's last three starts have been awfully good, and tonight it was against a very good lineup," manager Mike Hargrove said. "He gave us all he had."

After going 0-6 in his first six games for the Mariners, Weaver has won his past two starts, shutting out Pittsburgh and giving up only one earned run against Boston. That won't qualify him for the Cy Young Award, but it's a far cry from the man who lasted one-third of an inning against Kansas City on April 28.

When Weaver left this game, it was with a four-run lead and to an ovation from a crowd that just a month ago seemed to have lost all confidence in him.

"He's gotten stronger and stronger," Hargrove said. "He's pitching with confidence, making good pitches, giving us the chance to win."

In all that hitting, lost was Ichiro Suzuki's 19-game hitting streak. The Mariners' leadoff hitter went 0-for-4 with a walk.

Behind him, teammates made up for his lack of offense by beating the Red Sox at their own game. Boston's trademark patience at the plate was reversed in this one, and it was the Mariners forcing Julian Tavarez and his bullpen into deep counts.

Seattle grabbed an early 1-0 lead, then lost it when the Mariners muffed a bunt play in the third that led to Boston's first two runs.

With a runner on first and no one out, Julio Lugo bunted toward first base. Weaver fielded it, but had no play at first -- Richie Sexson was standing right beside him. Weaver made an off-balance throw toward second and the ball zipped into the outfield.

When the runners settled, they were at second and third base, and J.D. Drew singled them both home.

Boston 2, Seattle 1.

That lasted into the fifth inning and a Mariners rally.

Beltre doubled off the wall in center field, Yuniesky Betancourt beat out a bunt single and Willie Bloomquist -- filling in for Ibanez -- singled home Beltre to tie the game.

Ichiro walked, loading the bases, and Jose Lopez singled home two runs.

The Mariners loaded the bases on a fielder's choice and an infield single, then worked a pair of bases-loaded walks and pushed their lead to 6-2.

Weaver got two more outs, then faltered, and right-hander Sean Green got him out of a sixth-inning jam.

The Mariners added on when Johjima hit a two-run home run, his eighth of the year, in the seventh inning -- and Beltre followed with his 10th of the season.

"With the offense Boston has, those were big runs," Hargrove said. "It might have been the difference we needed."

When Green worked himself into his own problems in the eighth inning, Hargrove waved in George Sherrill -- who got an inning-ending double play.

For Sherrill, that extended an impressive stretch of work in which he has allowed one run over his past 21 appearances, a span of 15 innings.

Rookie Ryan Rowland-Smith then made his second major league appearance and ran into immediate trouble, walking one man and allowing a double. Rowland-Smith then struck out David Ortiz and Eric Hinske looking, but allowed a two-run double to Kevin Youkilis.

The kid came back, striking out Mike Lowell to end it.

Since losing six in a row, the Mariners have rebounded by winning five of their past six games, and that stretch has helped them in the standings. For the first time since June 12, they gained a game in the standings -- this time on the Angels ahead of them and the Athletics behind them.

They get another chance tonight, when Felix Hernandez faces Boston for a second time this season.

The first time he one-hit them. blogs.thenewstribune.com/mariners

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