Red Sox Notes: Extra Outs Fuel Mariners To Even Series In Boston

The Boston Red Sox have struggled to pull away from inconsistencies this season due to poor defense and opponents taking advantage of extra outs.

That’s about exactly what happened in Wednesday’s 8-5 loss to the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park.

“That was the story,” Alex Cora told reporters, per NESN’s postgame coverage.

From a first-inning walk to score first to a three-run home run from J.P Crawford, the Mariners took advantage of extra outs against Sean Newcomb, who otherwise pitched well enough with eight strikeouts in five innings.

“I felt like I threw the ball well,” Newcomb told reporters, per NESN’s postgame coverage. “That one walk in the first ticked me off. Just kind of giving them a free base. That one slider to Crawford, I should be doing a lot better to lefties. Just sticking some more pitches in there. Beat myself up about that, but felt pretty good otherwise.”

The Red Sox slipped further behind in the sixth inning when Brennan Bernardino had a fielding and throwing error on the same play, which allowed Seattle to stretch the lead when another run came across when the ball shot away down the right field line.

“We got two outs,” Cora said. “We make the play, we’re out of the inning. It’s one of those were where we were bullpen-wise, we needed him to give us that inning right there. We were one play away from finishing the inning. It didn’t happen.”

Boston played accordingly Wednesday night and will rely on Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet for a series win Thursday.

Here are more notes from Wednesday’s Mariners-Red Sox game:

— Jarren Duran tallied two more hits to extend his hitting streak to 10 games.

— Josh Winckowski threw an eye-popping 80 pitches out of the bullpen to eat up the final three innings of the game, which preserved Boston’s relievers for the series finale.

— Triston Casas showed more progress at the plate with a three-run home run for the second consecutive night. The Red Sox first baseman slapped Boston’s MLB-leading ninth three-run home run of 2025.

“It felt good,” Casas told reporters, per NESN’s postgame coverage. “Can’t say I was looking for another fastball right there. Just with how they’ve attacked me in general, a lot of off-speed. I got one in a better zone than the first two pitches. I thought the first one was down. The second was just a little up. That third one, like the porridge, was just right. Thankfully, I was able to put a good swing on it and not miss. I got the closer in the game. I think that’s a win in itself.”

— The two errors from Bernardino bring Boston’s error count on the season to 26, which leads the league.

— The Red Sox and Mariners play the rubber match of the three-game series Thursday afternoon at Fenway Park. First pitch is set for 1:35 p.m. ET. You can catch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.