BOSTON– Rafael Devers doubled the winning streak in the 10th inning for his third hit of the game, and the Boston Red Sox defeated the Seattle Mariners 3-2 on Wednesday.
Zack Kelly (4-1) came out of a big jam with a scoreless 10th place finish for the win. Danny Jansen tied the sixth and Boston took two of three from the Mariners, who are locked in a tight race with Houston atop the AL West.
“To be honest, it’s a relief,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “To win the series, it’s good.”
Josh Rojas homered for Seattle and Dylan Moore had an RBI single.
Tyler O’Neill was the automatic runner at second, with Devers leading off the bottom of the 10th. With an initially open base and left-hander Jhonathan Díaz on the mound, Seattle manager Scott Servais opted to throw to left-hander Devers – and the All-Star slugger made the Mariners pay.
Devers picked off a 2-0 slide from Díaz (0-1) in the bottom half of the Green Monster in left-center, and O’Neill scored easily when the ball sailed past Seattle’s outside defenders.
It was Boston’s fourth win this season and Devers’ first late-game hit since June 14, 2021.
“It felt really good to help the team win and I’m happy we won this series,” Devers said. “We need to win every game, every series in the second half. Winning is very important in the second half and I was very happy to be able to do it.”
Kelly threw a wild pitch in the top of the 10th that allowed automatic runner Cal Raleigh to reach third with no one out. But the right-hander struck out Mariners rookie Justin Turner and retired Leo Rivas on a grounder that kept Raleigh stranded at third.
After Luke Raley was hit by a pitch and Moore walked to load the bases, Mitch Garver grounded out to end the inning.
“We had a lot of opportunities to open it,” Servais said. “In a game like this, you are a big step away from getting to the good side of things, but not for lack of effort. But I like the way we’re playing. The batting is better. We just couldn’t get runners in scoring position today.”
Boston opened the scoring in the first inning when Masataka Yoshida walked with two outs and went to third on Devers’ double before scoring on a wild pitch by George Kirby.
Moore tied the score with a two-out double in the fourth after Raleigh led off with a double. Rojas immediately struck out to center in the fifth.
After a double in the sixth, Dominic Smith scored when Jansen chased Kirby with an RBI single.
Kirby gave up two runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings, snapping his streak of quality starts at nine. It was the longest streak by a Mariners pitcher since Félix Hernández had 16 in a row in 2014.
“They have a lot of good hitters whose work counts,” said Kirby, who threw a knuckleball on the first pitch in honor of former Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield, who died of cancer in October. “I wasn’t getting much chase on the splitter. I would have liked more swings and misses, but today they made it difficult.”
Boston starter Brayan Bello went 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs and seven hits with seven strikeouts.
Lucas Sims, making his Red Sox debut after being acquired from Cincinnati in a trade on Tuesday, replaced Bello with runners on the corners and worked his way out of the jam when Turner grounded out with the bases loaded.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mariners: OF Victor Robles, who left Tuesday’s game in the eighth inning because of a bothersome hip problem, was not in the starting lineup. After a bad day on Thursday, the Mariners hope he will be back in the lineup on Friday.
Red Sox: 1B Triston Casas, on the injured list since April 21 with a left rib strain, was scheduled to play nine innings at first base in Triple-A Worcester’s rehab game on Wednesday night. … INF Vaughn Grissom, on the IL since June 2 with a strained right hamstring, was scheduled to play second base for Worcester, continuing his rehab mission.
NEXT
Mariners: Return home on Friday to open a three-game set against Philadelphia. RHP Tyler Phillips (3-0, 1.80 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Phillies. Seattle had not announced a starting pitcher.
Red Sox: RHP Kutter Crawford (6-8, 3.60 ERA) starts Friday at Texas, which had not yet announced a starter.
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