But Beckett matched Vargas into the sixth and when Bill Hall went deep for the second straight night to lead off the seventh the Sox were ahead for the first time.
Now, after closing out their second straight win, they have a decided advantage in the pitching department. Jon Lester gets the nod Saturday night opposite David Pauley, the former Boston righty who was a teammate of Lester's for several years in the minors and majors but has not been his equal.
Pauley is 0-5 with a 7.06 ERA in his major league career.
It gives the Sox a great chance to put together their first three-game winning streak in nearly a month.
First pitch is 10:10 p.m. Follow along right here.
Final, Red Sox 2-1: That's a little more like it. Although he gave up a two-out double, Jonathan Papelbon has enough to finish this one off, doing so with a beautiful slider to strike out Josh Wilson. The Red Sox have won two in a row for the first time since July 2-3.
Josh Beckett does not get the win but he had a very good return to the mound. He gave up a run on five hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Their rotation now complete, the Sox will look to clinch the series behind local hero Jon Lester on Saturday.
Back in a bit to wrap it all up for you.
Mid 9th, Red Sox 2-1: The Sox have hit into three double plays and had David Ortiz picked off third base with one out in the sixth. That's how you limit yourself to two runs on nine hits and three walks. Still, three outs remain. Let's hope for a smoother ninth this time around for Jonathan Papelbon, who is on despite throwing 30 pitches roughly 22 hours ago.
End 8th, Red Sox 2-1: When you combine Daniel Bard and the worst offensive team I've seen in my lifetime you get a clinic. Bard threw eight pitches — seven for strikes — to coast through the Mariners in the eighth and get the Sox within three outs of a big win.
Bard entered with 13 straight scoreless outings.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 2-1: Some scary flashbacks after Kevin Youkilis fouls one off his left foot and goes down in a heap. It was eerily similar to Dustin Pedroia's injury last month. Youk seems just fine, but the Sox go in order in the eighth.
End 7th, Red Sox 2-1: Scott Atchison does the job once again, working around a leadoff walk to get this one to the eighth with the Sox in the lead. Daniel Bard should be available but Jonathan Papelbon and Hideki Okajima most likely are not, having thrown 30 pitches apiece Thursday night.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 2-1: Bill Hall was an awful hitter in his short stint at Safeco Field last year but he has homered in two straight nights in the Seattle home. Hall's solo shot on Jason Vargas' first pitch of the seventh is his 10th of the year.
End 6th, 1-1: It takes Scott Atchison just three pitches to finish Josh Beckett's inning. Beckett threw 98 in 5 2/3 innings, and each pitch in his arsenal looked pretty good. Not great, but pretty good.
11:55 p.m.: Josh Beckett and all those itching to see him on the mound again have to feel good about the results here. Beckett is removed two outs into the sixth after issuing his third walk. Solid return for the righty, who can certainly build on this one. Scott Atchison is your new pitcher.
Mid 6th, 1-1: The urge is to rip David Ortiz for straying off third base and getting caught on a snap throw by catcher Rob Johnson. He deserves some criticism, but let's give credit to the Mariners for executing the play to perfection — it's not as if Ortiz was all that far off the bag.
The Sox had the bases loaded and one out when Ortiz was caught. One batter later Mike Cameron struck out and for the second straight inning Boston shoots itself in the foot.
End 5th, 1-1: Josh Wilson, hitting for the benched Chone Figgins, rips a one-out double in the fifth, but becomes the six Mariner left on base. It appears as if Figgins and Jose Lopez were the chief combattants in the dugout brawl, Lopez apparently not pleased with a lack of hustle on a play in the top of the inning by Figgins.
Josh Beckett's pitch count is 84. Not sure how much longer they will allow him to go.
11:30 p.m.: The frustrated Mariners were at each other's throats in the wake of what could've been a bad error in the top of the fifth. Looked like a pretty ugly scene in the Seattle dugout and the one casualty appears to be Chone Figgins, who will be hit for in the bottom of the inning. We'll get the story, hopefully.
Mid 5th, 1-1: The Red Sox were given a gift after Mike Cameron's leadoff double resulted in three bases when left fielder Michael Saunders' throw in sailed over the cutoff man, allowing Cameron to scamper to third. They threw the gift away with two straight infield pops and a grounder to third by Marco Scutaro. Big break for the M's.
End 4th, 1-1: Josh Beckett has retired six of the last seven men he has faced and has an impressive five strikeouts, just three shy of his season high.
Mid 4th, 1-1: He continues to get big hit after big hit. Adrian Beltre follows a Kevin Youkilis single with a double into the gap in left-center field to tie it. Beltre is now batting .406 (that number seems familiar to me) and Youkilis is at .400 since the All-Star break.
On the other side of that coin is David Ortiz, who is now hitting .152 (5-for-33) since the break after he grounds into a double play earlier in the inning. We are still awaiting Ortiz's first extra-base hit of the second half.
End 3rd, Mariners 1-0: Mariners baseball fever. Catch it! Seattle gets the first two on in the form of speed merchants Ichiro Suzuki and Chone Figgins and gets Ichiro to third with only one out, but fails to score. Perhaps the weakest heart of the lineup you will ever see.
Josh Beckett, relying primarily on fastballs and cut fastballs and with a few nice curves thrown in, is up to 53 pitches.
Mid 3rd, Mariners 1-0: Mike Cameron draws a leadoff walk in the third but the Sox remain in search of their first hit against the soft-tossing, but effective, Jason Vargas.
Vargas is the fourth straight lefty to face Boston, which has had about the same results against southpaws as it has against right-handers. No eye-popping disparities.
End 2nd, Mariners 1-0: Josh Beckett is getting plenty of swings and misses. He has four strikeouts through two innings, the latest coming on a another diving cutter, seemingly his best pitch so far.
Mid 2nd, Mariners 1-0: Jason Vargas needs only nine pitches to retire Kevin Youkilis, Adrian Beltre and J.D. Drew in the second. Josh Beckett doesn't get much time to recover from a lengthy first frame.
End 1st, Mariners 1-0: The Mariners get the game's first run on an odd RBI double by Jose Lopez. Third base umpire Phil Cuzzi raised his arms on Lopez's shot down the line in left, suggesting it was foul, but then changed his signal to fair, allowing Ichiro Suzuki to score from second.
Beckett's velocity was good and he threw a few spectacular cutters, but he needed 26 pitches to get through the inning. He allowed two hits and a walk in his first inning in 66 days.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Josh Beckett is a marquee name, while Jason Vargas is not. But considering the long layoff for Beckett and how well Vargas has thrown this year, this might be the one game of the series where the Mariners have an advantage on the mound.
Vargas has a pretty easy go of it in the top of the first inning. Beckett is on his way out.
10:02 p.m.: As the Sox prepare to take the field we take one more glance at the out-of-town scoreboard. The Yankees are up 4-0 in the sixth against Kansas City at home. The Rays are trailing 2-1 after five innings but are in a rain delay in Cleveland.
A few have wondered why Jeremy Hermida is not in the lineup instead of Bill Hall. The only reason is because a lefty is on the mound. Nothing more, nothing less.
Hermida will get a start when this run of lefties ends Saturday.
9:31 p.m.: The one player on the trade market linked most often to the Red Sox on Friday is Royals outfielder Jose Guillen, who becomes that team's biggest chip now that David DeJesus is out for a month or more.
Guillen has been a consistent producer for much of the past decade, with the exception of a couple of injury-riddled campaigns. Offensively his career has been a lot like that of Adrian Beltre in terms of his solid power numbers, low walk totals and OK average.
Guillen has a strong arm normally featured in right but he has played 224 career games in left, which is where he would often find himself if a member of the Red Sox, at least until Jacoby Ellsbury returns.
We're getting ahead of ourselves, of course. But if the club wants a quality veteran bat in the outfield at the deadline, Guillen may be an option.
9:08 p.m.: Clay Buchholz and Jed Lowrie on Wednesday. Jeremy Hermida on Thursday. Now, Josh Beckett gives the Sox another rehabbed player prepared to take the club into the final two months of the season.
Do not expect Beckett to throw a 130-pitch complete game. His pitch count will be monitored, of course. But everyone is eager to not only see him healthy once again but also to see if he has any of the issues he had before the injury.
Remember, Beckett was a struggling pitcher before his back began to bother him, or at least before we were aware that his back was bothering him. A thorough statistical analysis of Beckett provides some insight into what was plaguing him, as well as plenty on what has made him special over the years.
8:35 p.m.: Word out of Seattle is that Michael Bowden was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket to make room for Josh Beckett. Not a complete shock, but after making the decision to convert him to a reliever and then rushing him up to the big club, it appeared as if the Sox were going to keep Bowden around for some time.
With the way this bullpen has been do not be surprised to see him back soon.
7:05 p.m.: The Red Sox won Thursday night in Seattle. It almost didn't feel like it though. Am I right? That horrendous ninth inning was a microcosm of some of the issues this team faces until the ranks are refilled.
The bullpen continues to be wildly inconsistent and until the Sox have guys at positions they are accustomed to playing (I'm looking at you, Bill Hall) there will be error-filled nights.
The one thing that can make all of that a non-factor, on most nights at least, is starting pitching, and the Boston rotation gets a big shot in the arm Friday with the return of Josh Beckett.
As great as Jon Lester is and as long as Tim Wakefield has been here and as dynamic as Clay Buchholz can be, Beckett is the leader of this staff, in my opinion. Having him healthy and effective over the next two months is imperative if Boston is going to stay in contention.
Here are the lineups in Beckett's first start in 66 days:
Red Sox
Marco Scutaro, SS
Jed Lowrie, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Adrian Beltre, 3B
J.D. Drew, RF
Mike Cameron, CF
Bill Hall, LF
Kevin Cash, C
Mariners
Ichiro Suzuki, RF
Chone Figgins, 2B
Franklin Gutierrez, CF
Jose Lopez, 3B
Milton Bradley, DH
Justin Smoak, 1B
Michael Saunders, LF
Rob Johnson, C
Jack Wilson, SS
9 a.m.:What can the Red Sox and Mariners do for an encore? We’ll find out Friday night when Josh Beckett makes his return to the rotation to take on the Mariners at Safeco Field.
Beckett and counterpart Jason Vargas will both be called upon to give a good effort after the bullpens were taxed in a 13-inning affair in Thursday’s opener.
After John Lackey flirted with a no-hitter in eight superb innings, the Sox committed two errors to help Seattle score five times in the ninth. The clubs swapped zeros until Eric Patterson ripped a two-run double in the top of the 13th, the runs which proved to be the difference in an 8-6 win.
Of course, Beckett has not pitched in more than two months, so a lengthy outing might not be in the cards. The club is simply hopeful he will have no lingering effects of a lower back strain that has sidetracked his season.
First pitch is 10:10 p.m.
