Red Sox sweep lowly Mariners out to sea

It was a quick turnaround for the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners as they played Saturday night and went right back at it Sunday afternoon to complete a three game series at the Fens over the weekend.

Saturday night saw a scoreless game through the first six innings between the teams as pitching seemed to be the order of the day. Josh Beckett was seeking his 9th win of the season and to drop his minuscule ERA even lower, while young Blake Beavan of the Mariners was given the almost insurmountable task of busting up the red-hot Red Sox offense as well as snap the M’s 14 game losing streak in the process. He pitched well enough to win, and held the Sox at bay for 6 innings.

Next came the dreaded 7th inning for any Boston opponent this season. They have outscored their opponents by 60 plus runs in this inning alone! The Sox scored 3 in that inning in this game with Jacoby Ellsbury getting the big blow with a 2-run single and then scoring on a wild pitch.

The only real blemish on Josh Beckett’s record this night was the homer he gave up to this guy I’ve never heard of again, Matt Carp. Beckett went 7 innings, scattering 7 hits and striking out 7 to get that 9th win of the year.

Sunday afternoon might have been the complete opposite of the game the night before as both teams pounded out double digit hits. Tim Wakefield was gunning for career win 199, and also achieved his 2,000th strikeout along the way, adding another accomplishment to his long and storied career with Boston. Although Wake did give up 7 runs in 6 and a 1/3 innings, he did pick up the win and sent Seattle to its record breaking 15th loss in a row.

Boston’s box score again had a plethora of crooked numbers on it with six out of the starting nine having multiple hit games, highlighted by Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Jarrod Saltalamacchia all banging out 3 hits each.

Up 11-3 in the 7th, the Red Sox did have a bit of a scare put into them as the Mariners put up a 4-spot in the inning to close the gap to 11-7. Alfredo Aceves came in for Wakefield and pitched the final 2 and 2/3 innings giving up only one run on 3 hits in another solid outing, not allowing Seattle to get any closer and giving the Sox a 12-8 victory.

Jon Lester comes off of the DL to start a series against the Kansas City Royals tonight at Fenway. Kyle Davies starts for the Royals.