The Red Sox failed to secure a series victory on Wednesday, falling to the Mariners in a tough loss highlighted by one costly momentum swing at T-Mobile Park.
Boston received the start it needed, getting five shutout innings from Kutter Crawford to begin the rubber match. However, in the sixth inning, the Mariners attacked Red Sox reliever John Schreiber in a way that Boston couldn't recover from. That turned an initial 3-0 Red Sox lead through five innings into a 6-3 loss, dropping Boston's deficit in the American League wild card to two games.
"Just a bad day today. Turn the page and get after it the next game," Schreiber told reporters, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "So, that's all there is to it. It's baseball, stuff like that happens. Everybody goes through it. Turn the page."
Schreiber surrendered four earned runs, including a two-run home run to Seattle's Cal Raleigh, who's hit .381 against Boston this season -- giving the Mariners the pendulum swing needed to put the Red Sox away.
Story continues below advertisement
Chalking the struggles up to a "bad day" certainly suits Schreiber as the right-hander previously recorded a 1.17 ERA in his last seven appearances out of Boston's bullpen. In 21 total games on the season, Schreiber hadn't allowed more than a single run in any relief appearance, making Wednesday an uncharacteristic showing.
"Some days are gonna be a grind, others aren't," Schreiber said. "It's just a stretch where we're not scoring as many runs as we want or not pitching as good as we want, but that's just baseball. So, we're gonna do better. I believe we're gonna do better going forward."
Featured image via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images