Mariners wrap up road trip with loss to Red Sox in 10th inning

BOSTON – The game ended early Wednesday evening when Rafael Devers hit a double off lefty Jhonathan Diaz to deep left-center, scoring automatic runner Tyler O’Neill from second base and giving the Red Sox a 3-2 walk-off victory over the Mariners.

But the game was lost when Mitch Garver’s routine ground ball to the left side of the infield was gloved easily by Boston shortstop Ceddanne Rafaela and flipped to second for the final out of the top of the 10th.

The Mariners had somehow managed to go scoreless in an inning at Fenway Park despite having Cal Raleigh as the automatic runner at second base to start it. Even more galling was that Raleigh had advanced to third when Zack Kelly’s second pitch of the inning got by catcher Danny Jansen for a wild pitch.

A runner at third with no outs. A run should be expected.

But Kelly struck out Justin Turner and Leo Rivas, who was in the game due to Jorge Polanco’s lingering knee discomfort, grounded out to first base.

With two outs, Luke Raley took a pitch off his hip and Dylan Moore worked a walk to load the bases for the struggling Garver, who was hitless in his previous four plate appearances, including three in which he stranded a combined five base runners.

His failure to come through in the 10th was a fitting end to a frustrating game in a season filled with far too many of them. As he jogged back to the dugout, Garver looked too physically and emotionally drained to be angry about the ground out.

He looked broken.

He’d finished hitless in five plate appearances, striking out twice, and stranding eight runners on base. His batting average was down to .168 on the season. In his past 12 games, he had five hits in 46 at-bats (.109 batting average) with 19 strikeouts and no homers.

“I thought he had a stretch there three or four weeks ago where it looked like it was going to turn and it’s been a struggle for him lately,” M’s manager Scott Servais said of Garver. “He’s used to being a big contributor on winning teams. You gotta keep grinding through it. Teammates try to pick him up, the coaching staff, myself. That’s why you’re a team. You pick each other up in these moments. We had other guys that had chances today and just weren’t able to get the big hits.”

The Mariners signed Garver to a two-year, $24 million contract to be their full-time designated hitter this past offseason, believing he would be a middle-of-the-order presence.

But the expected production hasn’t come close to being met. Instead, Garver has struggled for much of the season. With his forgettable game on Wednesday, he has a .168/.286/.337 slash line in 350 plate appearances with 14 doubles, 12 homers, 38 RBIs, 45 walks and 108 strikeouts.

Garver knows he’s struggling. He knows he’s been a disappointment to fans. And that was even before so many people had let him know about his failures via social media.

“This is by far the worst I’ve ever played in my career,” Garver said, fighting back tears and his voice shaking. “It’s tough on myself and my family with the death threats, the ‘retire’ … It’s getting old. The only way I change it is if I play better. And the worse I play, the more I hear. And rightfully so. I’m not playing well.”

When it was suggested to Garver that he return to catching as a way to get his bat going and also provide a feeling of contribution during his early struggles, he jumped at the opportunity. And it did seem to momentarily spark his hitting at least in terms of some home runs. But there has never been consistent production and his playing time at designated hitter has started to and will continue to decrease.

“I’ve already accepted the fact that I’m not going to hit above .200 this year,” he said quietly. “I don’t know. It might not get better. Who knows? Maybe it just gets worse. I don’t know. But I show up to the field every day prepared to play, prepared to get better and work hard and control what I can control. And the people out there that say certain things, they can say whatever they want. I think I bring a lot to this team.”

Because the Mariners have invested so much money into him – what’s left of $11.5 million salary this season and $12.5 million next season – they can’t or won’t just designate him for assignment. They also don’t have another catcher on the 40-man roster and top prospect Harry Ford isn’t ready to come to the big leagues.

In years past, Garver’s biggest obstacle has been health and trying to battle through a position that beat him up. He isn’t about to let struggles at the plate force him out of baseball.

“I’ve never quit anything,” he said. “Certainly not going to quit this. They’re gonna have to rip the jersey off my back. That’s fine. That’s an easy way out. I could happily retire right now, go home and live a great life with my family. That’s not what I do. I made a two-year commitment to this team. They believe in me, my teammates believe in me. So it’s a matter of just making it click and when it does, good things will happen.”

George Kirby’s run of dominance and streak of nine consecutive quality starts ended with an average outing by his standards.

Kirby’s first run allowed came in the bottom of the first and was a byproduct of two of the things he hates most: a walk and a missed call by an umpire.

After retiring the first two batters he faced, Kirby thought he’d struck out Masataka Yoshida with a perfectly placed sinker on a 3-2 count. Home plate umpire Cory Blaser called the pitch a ball, leaving Kirby irritated. It allowed Devers, the Red Sox best hitter, a chance to come to the plate. He smoked a ball off the green monster for a double putting runners on second and third with two outs.

When Garver couldn’t catch or block Kirby’s first-pitch slider away to Rob Refsnyder, it allowed Yoshida to race home for the first run of the game.

Unlike Logan Gilbert in Monday’s loss, Kirby didn’t let the missed strike call turn into a monster inning, striking Refsnyder out on three pitches to end the inning.

Kirby worked the next four innings without allowing a run, though they were anything but easy as a few missed plays by his teammates in the field and a few Red Sox hits pushed his pitch limit to 87 after five innings.

Meanwhile his teammates provided him with a 2-1 lead.

The Mariners tied the game in the fourth inning. Facing Sox starter Brayan Bello, Cal Raleigh led off with a double and later scored on Moore’s two-out single.

The Mariners took the lead in the fifth when Josh Rojas smashed a solo homer over the wall in center for his sixth homer of the season.

Kirby went out to start the sixth inning, knowing that any traffic on the bases could end his outing. He gave up a one-out double to Dominic Smith and watched in disbelief as Danny Jansen tied the game with a soft single to right-center.

When Servais appeared from the dugout to remove him from the game, Kirby screamed an obscenity in disgust.

Reliever Austin Voth retired the next two batters to keep the game tied at 2-2.

Kirby’s final line: 5 1/3 innings pitched, two runs allowed on seven this with a walk and two strikeouts.