A night after scoring 14 runs, the Boston Red Sox offense was baffled by Mike Leake.
The Seattle Mariners starting pitcher tossed his best game of the season, going eight innings, allowing just three hits and no runs as the Sox fell 7-2 at Fenway Park on Saturday night.
Eduardo Rodriguez once again struggled to go deep in the game, tossing 86 pitches through four innings of work, giving up five runs (four earned) on seven hits while only striking out two.
Boston was without two of its hottest hitters in Mookie Betts (illness) and Xander Bogaerts (finger sprain) as the starting nine only amassed six hits.
With the loss, the Red Sox slipped to 51-27, while the Mariners climbed to 47-30.
Here’s how it all went down:
GAME IN A WORD
Silent.
A night after stringing together 14 runs on a season-high 20 hits, the Red Sox bats produced only two runs.
ON THE BUMP
— Seattle jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first after a Dee Gordon single led to a run when Mitch Haniger doubled to center field.
The Mariners doubled their lead in the third on a Tzu-Wei Lin error at shortstop with two outs before Rodriguez got Ben Gamel to fly out to end the inning.
Things got messy in the fourth for Rodriguez, as Seattle plated three runs after Haniger doubled again, this time scoring two runs before Kyle Seager drove in a run on a ground ball to first that he barely beat out. Rodriguez finished out the inning and his night would be over after throwing 86 pitches.
— Hector Velazquez pitched a scoreless fifth before giving up two runs over the next two innings.
— Brandon Workman took over in the eighth and pitched a scoreless frame with two strikeouts.
— Heath Hembree got the ball for the ninth and had a strikeout.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Boston loaded the bases with two outs in the first inning, and looked as if it tied the game on a passed ball. But after a review, the umpires determined the pitch hit Rafael Devers after he swung and missed at a curveball, prompting J.D. Martinez to return to third. The third baseman grounded out to end the inning to keep the Red Sox off the board.
— The Red Sox would not put a runner in scoring position again until the sixth when Lin reached first on an error, and later made it to third after consecutive groundouts from Andrew Benintendi and Martinez, but Mitch Moreland flied out to end the inning.
— Leake was dealing on the night, pitching five 1-2-3 innings and fooling one of Major League Baseball’s hottest offenses.
— Martinez led off the ninth with a single before Moreland tripled to drive in Boston’s first run. Eduardo Nunez then singled to drive in the first baseman, but any chance of a rally ended when Christian Vazquez grounded out to end the game.
— Benintendi, Martinez, Moreland and Nunez accounted for Boston’s six hits.
TWEET OF THE GAME
Moreland likes triples this season.
Mitch Moreland has four triples this season after entering 2018 with two in his first eight big league seasons (922 games).
— Christopher Smith (@SmittyOnMLB) June 24, 2018
UP NEXT
The two sides will close out their three-game set Sunday afternoon. Chris Sale will get the ball Boston and be opposed by Marco Gonzales. First pitch from Fenway Park is set for 1:05 p.m. ET.
