Mariners fall to Red Sox, fail to take advantage of losses by other wild-card contenders
SEATTLE – With the Major League Baseball trade deadline past, and the rumors and speculation that filled Twitter replaced by criticism and complaints about what teams did or didn’t do, the active roster – give or take a few players called up or activated from the injured list – that the Mariners will be using for the foreseeable future took to the field on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park.
With new additions Dominic Canzone and Josh Rojas in the lineup, the new version of the Mariners couldn’t come up with a victory that would’ve been useful in the American League wild-card standings.
Rookie right-hander Bryce Miller struggled in his outing and the Mariners’ offense couldn’t overcome it in a 6-4 loss to the Red Sox.
On a night when the Angels, Yankees and Blue Jays all lost, a win for the Mariners would’ve been quite meaningful.
Instead, they squandered an opportunity to gain ground.
Miller couldn’t quite make it out of the sixth inning. He was removed from the game after Reese McGuire, a former Kentwood (Covington, Washington) High standout, smacked a solo homer to deep right-center to push the Red Sox’s lead to 6-3.
Miller’s final line: 5⅔ innings, six runs on seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Of his 94 pitches, 63 were strikes with 10 whiffs, 16 called strikes, 18 foul balls and 19 balls in play. He threw first-pitch strikes to 14 of the 26 hitters he faced.
It was the end of an up-and-down start from Miller, who held the Red Sox scoreless through the first three innings, then struggled facing a lefty-heavy lineup for a second time as his fastball velocity started to dip.
With the Mariners leading 1-0, Boston loaded the bases in the fourth. Masataka Yoshida led off with a double and then Miller walked Rafael Devers and hit Adam Duvall with a pitch. After getting Triston Casas to line out to left, Miller gave up a double to Christian Arroyo that bounced over the wall in right-center to score a pair of runs. McGuire added a sacrifice fly in the inning that made it 3-1.
Boston pushed the lead to 5-1 in the fifth. Jarren Duran led off with a double to right field and Alex Verdugo clubbed a two-run homer to center. Miller fell behind 2-0 to Verdugo and then made a mistake on a 91-mph fastball that stayed in the middle of the plate .
After getting an early run in the first off Red Sox starter Brayan Bello on Eugenio Suarez’s RBI single, the Mariners didn’t score again until the fifth. Cade Marlowe picked up his second single of the game and Suarez belted his 15th homer of the season, sending a towering fly ball to left.
The Mariners added another run in the sixth. Newcomer Canzone doubled to left-center and scored on Ty France’s double .