A touch of that old M’s magic
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SEATTLE — Bret Boone’s grand slam with one out in the 11th inning gave Seattle an 8-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Monday night after the Mariners had rallied to tie it with consecutive home runs in the ninth.
Boone homered to left field on an 0-1 count off Curtis Leskanic (1-5), the fifth Boston pitcher. The Mariners loaded the bases on a single by Miguel Olivo and walks to Dave Hansen and Randy Winn. Winn’s walk was intentional.
Boone, hitting a paltry .233 at gametime, was 2 for 6 with six RBIs. His grand slam was the Mariners’ first of the season.
Mike Myers (4-1), the fifth Seattle pitcher, got the final out of the 11th.
The Red Sox were 44-0 in games in which they led after the eighth.
The Mariners sent the game into extra innings in the bottom of the ninth when Olivo and Edgar Martinez homered off closer Keith Foulke with one out in the ninth. Foulke blew his fifth save in 19 opportunities and his fourth save in his last six chances since June 12.
Olivo’s homer to left was his first in five games with the Mariners since being acquired in a trade with the Chicago White Sox for Freddy Garcia June 27. The pinch-hitting Martinez homered 395 feet to center.
Jason Varitek went 2 for 4 with four RBIs, including a tiebreaking three-run homer in the eighth that put the Red Sox ahead 4-1.
Bronson Arroyo gave up one run and struck out a season-high 12 in eight innings for Boston.
Ron Villone pitched six strong innings, but the Red Sox came back against the Mariners’ bullpen.
After left-hander George Sherrill struck out Bill Mueller to open the eighth, the Mariners brought in right-hander J.J. Putz. The reliever gave up a single to David Ortiz and walked Manny Ramirez on a full count before Varitek homered on the first pitch 422 feet to center to put the Red Sox ahead.
An alert Curt Schilling on the Red Sox bench got Ramirez a walk to lead off the fourth, and the outfielder wound up scoring the game’s first run.
With the count on the scoreboard 3-2, Schilling yelled from the dugout that Ramirez had four balls instead of three, and manager Terry Francona went onto the field to talk to plate umpire C.B. Bucknor.
Bucknor and the three umpires talked it over and crew chief Chuck Meriwether called the press box, which verified that Schilling’s observation was correct.
Shortstop Nomar Garciaparra then singled, moving Ramirez to third, and Varitek followed with a run-scoring single.
The Mariners tied it at 1 in the sixth on Boone’s RBI double, ending Arroyo’s 17-inning scoreless streak.
Seattle scored an unearned run in the eighth to cut the score to 4-2.
Right fielder Ichiro Suzuki singled off Alan Embree and went to third on third baseman Mueller’s throwing error on Winn’s grounder. An RBI fielder’s choice by Boone scored Suzuki.
Notes
Boston 2B Pokey Reese came out in the bottom of the third after batting in the top of the inning with a strained rib cage. … Suzuki extended his hitting streak to 11 games. … Arroyo is 1-0 with a 1.23 ERA in three starts in July. … Varitek has six home runs and 26 RBIs against the Mariners, who traded him to Boston in 1997.