Final, Mariners 5-3: There you have it. The first road trip the Red Sox have had without a winning record since starting the year 0-6 in Texas and Cleveland.
This one was not as bad, but losses in three of the last four to two losing teams isn’t the best way to finish up the excursion.
And if you are wondering, Tim Wakefield will probably get his next start in Kansas City next weekend. That would be the fifth different city in which he will try for 200 (Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis, Seattle so far).
Boston gets a day off before beginning one of the crazier homestands you will ever see. There’s a doubleheader against Tampa Bay on Tuesday at Fenway Park, followed by a day game Wednesday. Then, after playing three games in roughly 27 hours, it is on to Kansas City and Texas for eight straight games in the heat. Not an easy stretch for the Sox.
We will see you Tuesday morning at the park.
End 8th, Mariners 5-3: Another pretty solid effort by Tim Wakefield ends with a strikeout of Kyle Seager.
If the Red Sox do not score, Wakefield gets his first complete game since April 22, 2009. He will also be 0-2 with a 4.08 ERA in four starts since picking up win No. 199.
Brandon League is on to try to close this one out for Boston.
Mid 8th, Mariners 5-3: Sometimes you just have to get the starter out of the game before the runs start to come.
Jeff Gray takes over for a dominant Charlie Furbush and moments later gives up a two-run bomb to Kevin Youkilis.
It’s been a tough year on the road for Youkilis, who entered this one hitting just .188 away from Fenway. Big shot right there to cut the deficit in half.
Tim Wakefield’s still in there. He went eight innings earlier this year against Milwaukee.
End 7th, Mariners 5-1: Tim Wakefield survived a ringing two-out double in the seventh and finishes it up at 83 pitches.
Dan Wheeler was up and warming in the Boston bullpen.
You cannot discount a 17-game losing streak, but aside from that horrendous slide the Mariners have not been an awful team. They have the good starting pitching and now you can see some solid young hitters in the mix. If this score holds they are two games above .500 outside of the franchise-record losing streak.
And if you saw any of Charlie Furbush’s start, you know he’s got potential. Furbush is done after seven outstanding innings. Jeff Gray is on on relief.
Mid 7th, Mariners 5-1: That could be it for Charlie Furbush, who is at 95 pitches after working around a leadoff single by Jed Lowrie in the seventh.
Then again, he still looks very strong and has to get used to working deep into games at some point. Perhaps they give him a chance at one more. Doubt it, but it’s possible.
Part of Furbush’s effort in the seventh involved a strikeout of Carl Crawford, who is now at .175 (20-for-114) against lefties.
Tim Wakefield remains in the game
End 6th, Mariners 5-1: OK, that quality start is now gone and any dreams of a 200th win today are just about gone as well. It would take a mighty rally for Tim Wakefield to reach the milestone today.
Wakefield just served up a solo homer to Casper Wells, who has gone deep in each of the last two games.
Mid 6th, Mariners 4-1: Adrian Gonzalez is now 3-for-5 against Charlie Furbush after a single to lead off the sixth. The rest of the team is 3-for-30.
But the rest of the crew just cannot break through against this guy.
Kevin Youkilis flies to right, with Ichiro Suzuki darting across to make a nice running catch. David Ortiz then grounds into an inning-ending double play.
End 5th, Mariners 4-1: If Tim Wakefield gets three outs in the sixth and then departs, it would be the fourth straight time he has produced a quality start (one of the four runs in this one is unearned) without getting his 200th win.
Still, it hasn’t been his best effort. Three straight singles to begin the bottom of the fifth gives the Mariners another big run. Dustin Ackley drove it in, improving to 10-for-25 (.400) against Boston this year.
Very good rookie hitter right there.
Nice job by Wakefield to get out of the jam from there with three straight outs. He picked up his second strikeout by making Miguel Olivo look stupid on a knuckler to end it.
Mid 5th, Mariners 3-1: Charlie Furbush keeps dealing. He’s allowed one run on four hits in 10 innings against the Red Sox this year.
You can see why Seattle wanted him as part of the Doug Fister deal. The M’s could have something going forward with this guy, even if everyone wants to make jokes about his name.
Furbush hit Jacoby Ellsbury with a pitch with two outs in the fifth but gets Dustin Pedroia on a long fly to center. That ever-important pitch count is up to 74.
End 4th, Mariners 3-1: This is a pretty typical Tim Wakefield start in one sense. All the bad stuff always seems to come in bunches, as it did in the third.
Wakefield follows that tough frame up with an eight-pitch fourth, which included a three-pitch strikeout of Casper Wells.
Mid 4th, Mariners 3-1: The second time through the lineup is yielding some better swings for the Red Sox as they break through against Charlie Furbush in the fourth.
Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz singled around a walk to Kevin Youkilis, all with one out (a great diving play by Jack Wilson robbed Dustin Pedroia of a hit to start the inning). That loaded the bases for Jed Lowrie, who lofted a sacrifice fly deep into the corner in left.
Furbush got his second out there and his third on a lazy pop off the bat of Carl Crawford. Nice job by the lefty to limit the Red Sox right there.
Furbush’s high for pitches is 84. He is at 64 right now.
End 3rd, Mariners 3-0: We were talking about inning ERAs earlier. It’s interesting to note that the only inning among the first seven in which Tim Wakefield’s ERA was below 4.50 was the third.
His mark in this frame, during which he is often facing the bottom third of a lineup for the first time, was at 1.06 entering today’s game.
That goes up a bit in a long third inning that began, as so many rallies do, with a leadoff walk.
Casper Wells drew that walk and then took off for second on Wakefield. Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s throw was in time but bounced over Dustin Pedroia’s glove and into center. Wells went to third on the throwing error and then scored on Jack Wilson’s single.
After another single, Ichiro Suzuki chopped one to Adrian Gonzalez, who went to second base for what should have been an easy force. The umps ruled that Jed Lowrie never touched the bag before firing late to first. Bases loaded, no outs.
Replays seemed to suggest that the call was right, but you almost never see that called. Tough error that became even harder to swallow when the Mariners added a sacrifice fly and an RBI single later in the frame.
Two of the runs are earned.
Mid 3rd, 0-0: The Red Sox have sent 10 men to the plate. None have a hit, one has a walk and five have struck out.
Carl Crawford drew that free pass and eventually stole second, but it came on strike three to Darnell McDonald.
To emphasize the degree to which Charlie Furbush has dominanted Boston so far, his five strikeouts are one shy of a career and season high. He had six Ks in that five-inning scoreless relief outing vs. the Sox on May 27. Eleven of his 34 strikeouts as a major leaguer have come against Boston.
End 2nd, 0-0: We are still awaiting our first base runner of the game after the fourth straight 1-2-3 inning.
Tim Wakefield has thrown just 16 pitches in his two frames. He gets a fly to right and two soft grounders to retire the side in the second.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: Maybe with a little more chatter David Ortiz will have that strikeout rescinded.
Ortiz goes down as Charlie Furbush’s third strikeout victim, in part because of a strike two pitch in which third base umpire Mark Ripperger ruled that Ortiz went too far.
After Furbush threw the next pitch by Ortiz, the big slugger barked at Ripperger all the way back to the dugout, and then some more when in it.
Furbush has set down the first six he has faced and has seven scoreless innings vs. Boston this year.
End 1st, 0-0: Tim Wakefield’s ERA in innings 1-3 is now 3.42 after a very easy, nine-pitch inning.
That mark goes up from there, as evidenced by his last start against Seattle, when he gave up a run in the fifth and then four more in the seventh.
Good thing his offense had already scored 10 times. Hence, career win No. 199.
Mid 1st, 0-0: A nice inning for the Mariners to start things off, even if one of the plays had a tinge of “controversy” to it.
Charlie Furbush started things off by getting Jacoby Ellsbury swinging at a pretty breaking ball. Dustin Pedroia was then out on a grounder to short with first baseman Mike Carp barely keeping his foot on the bag to go and get an errant throw.
It was tough to tell if Carp still had his toes touching the base, but it goes in the books as an out and pretty nice effort by Carp.
Carp then corralled a hot shot by Adrian Gonzalez for the final out.
4:10 p.m.: Charlie Furbush starts Jacoby Ellsbury off with a ball a little high. We are off and running.
3:22 p.m.: The Yankees have been rained out, in case you had not heard.
That obviously impacts Boston in terms of the standings (for now), but more so because it caused a shuffle for Tampa Bay’s rotation as it heads to Fenway Park.
The Rays will pitch James Shields in the opener of a doubleheader Tuesday in Fenway against Jon Lester. Jeff Niemann will take on Erik Bedard in the nightcap.
In Wednesday’s day game at Fenway, David Price goes against John Lackey. For all intents and purposes, Boston will face the best Tampa Bay has to offer in that awkward three-game set.
Oh, by the way, rain is in the forecast for the doubleheader Tuesday. Should be some happy people in the park if that’s the case.
1:48 p.m.: Tim Wakefield picked up his 199th career win against Seattle and he pitched better than his line (seven runs on 10 hits) would suggest. His last pitch resulted in a grand slam.
That slam was struck by Brendan Ryan, who also had an RBI double and was hit by a pitch and scored in that game against Wakefield.
Fortunately for the knucklballer, Ryan is on the disabled list. Without him, the Mariners send up this lineup in an effort to prevent the milestone:
Ichiro Suzuki, RF
Franklin Gutierrez, CF
Dustin Ackley, 2B
Mike Carp, 1B
Wily Mo Pena, DH
Miguel Olivo, C
Casper Wells, LF
Jack Wilson, SS
Kyle Seager, 3B
The order is a collective 20-for-85 (.235) against Wakefield.
12:40 p.m.: Kevin Youkilis is back in the lineup after two days off to rest a sore back.
Here is the batting order in support of Tim Wakefield:
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
David Ortiz, DH
Jed Lowrie, SS
Carl Crawford, LF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Darnell McDonald, RF
None of these guys have faced Seattle starter Charlie Furbush more than twice. His only appearance against Boston was May 27 in Detroit, when he emerged from the Tigers bullpen to toss five scoreless innings. Gonzalez and Josh Reddick, who has been sat against almost every lefty of late, were the only two to get a hit off Furbush.
8:30 a.m. ET: When Tim Wakefield tries again for his 200th career win Sunday in Seattle, he will also be looking to keep alive a rather impressive streak for his Red Sox.
Boston has had a winning record in seven straight road trips since its season-opening 0-6 jaunt to Texas and Cleveland. It is the longest such run in franchise history, but one that would come to an end with a loss to the Mariners.
The Red Sox are 3-2 on this six-game trek after dropping a 5-4 decision at Safeco Field on Saturday night. Josh Beckett gave up five runs in the first inning and the M’s held on from there.
Wakefield has produced three straight quality starts, none of which were quite good enough to pick up the milestone win. He is 0-1 with two no-decisions and a 3.92 ERA. Wakefield’s 199th win came against Seattle at Fenway Park on July 24.
The Mariners counter with rookie left-hander Charlie Furbush in his fifth career start. Furbush, a Maine native, threw five scoreless innings of relief against the Red Sox back in May when he was a member of the Detroit Tigers.
First pitch is 4:10 p.m.
