Final, Mariners 8-6: And that’ll do it.
Mookie Betts, Brock Holt and Dustin Pedroia all reached base in the bottom of the ninth, but Mariners closer Fenando Rodney came through with three strikeouts to shut the door on Boston’s eighth straight loss.
The Sox now embark on a 10-game road trip beginning Monday in Toronto.
Mid 9th, Mariners 8-6: The Red Sox will have a two-run hole to climb out of in the bottom of the ninth.
The Mariners strung together two two-out hits against Edward Mujica, with Dustin Ackley coming home on a double off the wall by Brad Miller.
Mujica struck out Endy Chavez to end the inning.
The Sox will send the bottom of their order — Will Middlebrooks, Mookie Betts and Christian Vazquez — to the plate against a familiar face: former Tampa Bay Rays closer Fernando Rodney
End 8th, Mariners 7-6: A wild pitch by Tom Wilhelmsen and a walk by Mike Napoli put runners on the corners, but he was able to settle down and squash the Red Sox’s rally.
Wilhelmsen got Yoenis Cespedes to fly out and struck out Allen Craig looking. Craig did not swing at any of the five pitches the right-hander offered him.
Bottom 8th, Mariners 7-6: Do I smell a rally?
An RBI double by Kelly Johnson — hitting in place of the injured David Ortiz — trimmed the Mariners lead to one and prompted Seattle to yank reliever Charlie Furbush.
Furbush allowed a leadoff infield single to Brock Holt and struck out Dustin Pedroia before facing Johnson.
Tom Wilhelmsen is your new Mariners pitcher.
Mid 8th, Mariners 7-5: The late-afternoon shadows seem to be making life difficult for Christian Vazquez.
The young catcher allowed two pitches to get past him during Kyle Seager’s at-bat in the eighth, allowing pinch-runner Endy Chavez to advance from first to third. Chavez replaced Kendrys Morales, who led off the inning with a single, on the basepaths after Vazquez’s first passed ball.
Seager singled, as well, scoring Chavez with an insurance run for the Mariners.
Tommy Layne got Logan Morrison to ground out before being relieved by Junichi Tazawa, who induced two more groundouts to end the inning.
End 7th, Mariners 6-5: Both teams caught big breaks in the seventh.
First, Mariners right fielder Chris Denorfia lost Mookie Betts’ routine fly ball in the sun and let it drop, allowing Allen Craig to advance to third.
Craig, who doubled to lead off the inning, represented the potential tying run, but the Red Sox weren’t able to push him across. Batting with one out, Christian Vazquez sent a laser of a line drive right into the glove of pitcher Danny Farquhar, who fired to first to double up Betts.
Will Middlebrooks flied out after Craig’s double for the inning’s first out.
Mid 7th, Mariners 6-5: A double play wipes Austin Jackson off the basepaths, and Tommy Layne closes out a scoreless seventh inning.
Dustin Ackley sent a sharp ground ball toward Dustin Pedroia, who made a slick grab on a tough hop to kick off the 4-6-3 twin killing.
Brad Miller flied out to Yoenis Cespedes in left to end the inning.
Top 7th, Mariners 6-5: Heath Hembree walks Austin Jackson to start the seventh inning, and that will do it for him. Right-hander Tommy Layne replaces him on the bump.
End 6th, Mariners 6-5: David Ortiz has left the game.
Ortiz, who fouled a ball off his shin in his last plate appearance, crushed a Joe Beimel pitch to the wall in right field but ended up with just a single. The DH clearly still is feeling the aftereffects of that foul ball, and he was replaced at first base by Kelly Johnson.
Right-hander Danny Farquhar then replaced Beimel on the mound for Seattle.
Johnson, representing the potential tying run, advanced to third on a single by Yoenis Cespedes — Cespedes’ third hit of the game — but was stranded there when Mike Napoli struck out swinging. Farquhar had fallen behind Napoli 3-0 before rallying back for the punchout.
Brock Holt and Dustin Pedroia grounded out for the inning’s first two outs.
Mid 6th, Mariners 6-5: Heath Hembree completes an unorthodox 1-2-3 inning with a little help from his battery mate.
Chris Denorfia grounded out to first to open the inning, with Hembree receiving Mike Napoli’s flip just before Denorfia reached the first base.
The next two Mariners batters reached base, but both were gunned down on the basepaths by catcher Christian Vazquez. Vazquez picked Mike Zunino off first base after Zunino drew a one-out walk, and he caught Chris Taylor trying to steal third for the inning’s final out.
Left-hander Joe Beimel will begin the bottom half of the frame on the mound for the Mariners.
End 5th, Mariners 6-5: Dominic Leone completes his second full inning of scoreless relief as the Red Sox can’t muster much offense in the fifth.
After Leone picked up two quick outs — an Allen Craig groundout and a Will Middlebrooks strikeout — he walked Mookie Betts, prompting a mound visit from manager Lloyd McClendon.
Betts, who also drew a free pass back in the third inning, has shown much better plate discipline of late, walking in each of his last four games, after doing so just once in his first 13 games as a major leauger.
Heath Hembree, who was recalled from Pawtucket earlier in the day, now comes on to pitch for the Red Sox.
Mid 5th, Mariners 6-5: Craig Breslow picks up two quick outs to end the inning, getting Kyle Seager and Logan Morrison to fly out.
Top 5th, Mariners 6-5: The M’s are back on top, and Allen Webster’s afternoon is over.
Dustin Ackley followed a leadoff single by Austin Jackson with an RBI triple to the deepest part of the ballpark. Ackley proceeded to score on a Brad Miller sacrifice fly, and after Webster walked Kendrys Morales, John Farrell decided to go to his bullpen.
Lefty Craig Breslow gets the call. He’ll face Kyle Seager.
End 4th, Red Sox 5-4: David Ortiz can’t seem to catch a break.
Ortiz, who was beaned in the arm with a pitch on Saturday, fouled one off his right shin here in the fourth and went down hard. He crumpled in a heap on home plate and was examined by the team trainer before electing to complete his at-bat, which ended with a strikeout.
Yoenis Cespedes, who reached on a two-out walk, was the Red Sox’s only baserunner in the inning. Dustin Pedroia grounded out, Ortiz struck out and Mike Napoli flied out to right field.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 5-4: The Mariners get one back in the fourth.
Allen Webster walked Kyle Seager to open the inning, then surrendered a ground-rule double from Logan Morrison. A sacrifice fly by Chris Denorfia scored Seager, cutting the Red Sox’s lead to one.
Morrison advanced to third on the play, but Webster stranded him there by striking out Mike Zunino and Chris Taylor to end the inning.
End 3rd, Red Sox 5-3: Chris Young lasted 3 2/3 innings for the Mariners on Saturday. Hisashi Iwakuma couldn’t even make it that far.
The Seattle starter was pulled with one out in the third after allowing Boston’s fourth and fifth runs of the game to score.
David Ortiz led off the inning by drawing a nine-pitch walk. The Mariners then were forced to make a defensive replacement after Robinson Cano removed himself from the game. It later was announced that Cano’s left the game due to “dizziness” and will be further evaluated by a doctor.
Brad Miller took over at second base.
Immediately after the switch, Yoenis Cespedes blasted a double halfway up the Monster, sending Ortiz to third. Ortiz then came home on an RBI groundout by Mike Napoli to give the Red Sox their first lead of the afternoon.
After Allen Craig singled — just his second hit in a Red Sox uniform — and Will Middlebrooks drove in Cespedes with a double down the line, Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon had seen enough. He lifted Iwakuma and brought in right-hander Dominic Leone to face Mookie Betts.
Leone walked Betts, loading the bases, but retired Christian Vazquez and Brock Holt via popout and strikeout, respectively, to escape the jam.
Mid 3rd, 3-3: Allen Webster is out to prove that his rocky first inning was not a sign of things to come.
The young righty retired the side in order again in the third, needing just seven pitches to do so.
Dustin Ackley grounded out to first, Robinson Cano flied out to center and Kendrys Morales struck out swinging.
End 2nd, 3-3: Hisashi Iwakuma follows Allen Webster’s 1-2-3 inning with one of his own.
Christian Vazquez and Brock Holt both grounded out to shortstop Chris Taylor, and Dustin Pedroia lined out, with left fielder Dustin Ackley making a nice play to snare the ball before it hit the outfield grass.
Mid 2nd, 3-3: Allen Webster’s second inning was a great deal more leisurely than his first.
Webster needed just nine pitches to retire the side in order. He struck out Mike Zunino, got Chris Taylor to fly out to the warning track in left and induced an inning-ending groundout off the bat of Austin Jackson.
End 1st, 3-3: It’s safe to say this game will not be a pitchers’ duel.
The Red Sox plated three runs in the bottom of the first inning to tie it up.
Brock Holt led off the inning with a single, took second on a Dustin Pedroia groudout and — after David Ortiz struck out swinging — came around to score on a base hit by Yoenis Cespedes, who is in the midst of one heck of a weekend.
Cespedes now has driven in at least one run in each of the three games in this series.
Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma then hit both Mike Napoli and Allen Craig with pitches to load the bases with two outs, and Will Middlebrooks smacked a single up the middle to bring home two more runs. Craig tried to take third on Middlebrooks’ base knock and was originally called out, but a video review revealed that he had slid in under the tag of third baseman Kyle Seager.
With the call overturned, the inning continued, but not for much longer. Mookie Betts flied out to right field to end it.
Mid 1st, Mariners 3-0: This was far from an ideal start for Allen Webster
Leadoff man Austin Jackson reached when Webster threw wide of first base after picking up his swinging bunt. Dustin Ackley then followed with a double off the Green Monster, putting two men in scoring position with nobody out.
Webster made a heads-up play to keep Jackson from scoring, catching the center fielder in a rundown between third base and home after fielding a grounder off the bat of Robinson Cano. Cano reached on the fielder’s choice, and Ackley wound up on third.
Cleanup hitter Kendrys Morales then came through with a single into right-center field, scoring Ackley with the game’s first run.
Another run came home one batter later, as Kyle Seager smacked a base hit down the third base line to score Cano from third. The Red Sox did manager to pick up an out on the play, though, tagging out Morales as the designated hitter tried to take third base.
That putout saved a run. The next batter, Logan Morrison, smoked a line drive just over the glove of a leaping Dustin Pedroia for a base hit that drove in Seager from second.
After a visit from manager John Farrell, Webster settled down and struck out Chris Denorfia to end the inning.
1:36 p.m.: Austin Jackson takes strike one from Allen Webster, and we are underway.
Webster will see Jackson, Dustin Ackley and Robinson Cano here in the first.
12:45 p.m.: David Ortiz is back in the starting lineup after a hit-by-pitch forced him to exit Saturday’s game early. Xander Bogaerts, however, has been held out for a second straight day as he continues to undergo concussion tests.
Bogaerts was nailed in the head by a Felix Hernandez pitch during Friday night’s game, and manager John Farrell said there is a chance the shortstop might wind up on the disabled list as a result.
“I think by the end of (Sunday), he’ll either be cleared, or we may have to look to make a roster move at that point,” Farrell said.
Brock Holt is starting Bogaerts’ spot at short.
12:30 p.m.: The Red Sox made a roster move earlier today, optioning Brandon Workman to Pawtucket and recalling Heath Hembree. The Mariners toasted Workman on Saturday, touching him for seven runs in the fourth inning alone.
11:40 a.m. ET: The American League West’s tour through Fenway Park has been nothing short of disastrous for the Boston Red Sox.
In 10 games against three AL West opponents (the Houston Astros, Los Angeles Angels and Seattle Mariners) over the last week and a half, the Red Sox have posted a record of just 2-8, including losses in each of their last seven contests.
The Sox will have one final chance to break out of that slump before departing on a 10-game road trip.
Allen Webster will start on the mound Sunday for the finale of the team’s series with the Mariners. The 24-year-old right-hander has yet to put together a truly dominant outing in his five starts this season, but he has shown much improvement, particularly in the control department. Webster enters with a 3-1 record and a 4.73 ERA.
Going for the Mariners will be Hisashi Iwakuma, who hasn’t allowed more than one run in a start since July 29. Iwakuma (12-6, 2.57 ERA) has pitched a total of 14 2/3 shutout innings over his last two outings, scattering nine hits, walking just one and striking out 16. His 11 K’s in a win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday were a season high.
Here are the starting lineups Webster and Iwakuma will be facing:
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First pitch is set for 1:35 p.m.
