4/22/25

(Boston, MA) An off day on Monday in Boston gave the Seattle Mariners a little bit of a break after going 4-2 in the first six games of their nine-game road trip. Series wins in Cincinnati and Toronto had given the M’s some momentum but the toughest series of the road trip was still to come in Boston where the Mariners are 14-32 since the beginning of the 2010 season. Only once in that span have the Mariners won a series at Fenway Park, which Seattle would look to change this week.

In the opener, Bryce Miller would look to build upon his strongest start of the season last week against Cincinnati when he went five scoreless innings. On the other side of the field, Brayan Bello would be activated off the IL and for the second consecutive season make his season debut against the Mariners.

Red Sox 8, Mariners 3 (Game 1, April 22nd)

It only took six pitches for the Mariners to grab the game’s first run and the early lead. After Julio Rodríguez grounded out, Jorge Polanco came to the plate after a quiet series in Toronto. There was nothing quiet about his first at-bat in Fenway as Polanco drove his fourth home run of the season out to right center to make it 1-0. A Cal Raleigh walk and both Randy Arozarena and Luke Raley were hit by pitches to load the bases with one out. Unfortunately, the Mariners wasted the opportunity as Rowdy Tellez hit into an inning ending 3-6-1 double play to end the top of the 1st.

A leadoff triple by Jarren Duran began the home half of the 1st and Rafael Devers tied the game with a sacrifice fly to make it 1-1. In the bottom of the 3rd, Boston grabbed their first lead of the game off of Bryce Miller. Ceddanne Rafaela singled and stole second to put the go-ahead runner in scoring position. After a Devers walk, former Astro Alex Bregman smacked a double to left to score Rafaela to make it 2-1 with runners still on second and third with one out. Miller would get a huge strikeout of Trevor Story for a pivotal second out before getting Wilyer Abreu to fly out to end the inning with no more damage being done.

Seattle left two more runners on in the 5th and Boston then pulled away. In the bottom of the 5th, Rafaela walked and stole second before moving up to third on a Jarren Duran groundout to second. After walking Rafael Devers, Bryce Miller then set his sights on Alex Bregman. Miller had dominated Bregman coming into this game but this match-up was won by Bregman. The third baseman doubled to center for his ninth double of the season to drive in two, making it 4-1. Miller couldn’t escape the 5th, but Eduard Bazardo came in to strikeout Kristian Campbell to end the inning, stranding runners on second and third and keeping it a three-run game.

Justin Wilson was the first man out of the bullpen for Boston and after retiring Donovan Solano, he ran into some trouble. Ben Williamson and Dylan Moore then walked and moved up on a Leo Rivas groundout. With runners on second and third and two outs, J.P. Crawford came to the plate and stayed hot with runners in scoring position. Crawford went the other way with a base hit to left, scoring Williamson and Moore to make it 4-3. Julio drew a walk to put the go-ahead run on, but Jorge Polanco would fly out to end the threat there.

Bazardo would work another scoreless inning in the 6th before giving way to Trent Thornton in the 7th. Thornton did not have his best stuff as Wilyer Abreu singled and Kristian Campbell walked to put a couple of men on with one out. In stepped Tristan Casas and he delivered the knockout blow to the Mariners. Casas got a hanging curveball right in the middle of the plate and drove it out to center for his second home run of the season. The three-run blast opened the lead back up for the Red Sox at 7-3.

Boston added another run on an error, making it 8-3 heading into the 9th. Liam Hendricks would slam the door in the Mariners faces as he went through J-Rod, Polanco, and Raleigh in order for a quick and quiet 1-2-3 9th. Fenway Park continued to be a house of horrors for the Mariners as they dropped the opener to Boston, 8-3.

Notable Performances

Mariners

Red Sox

• Alex Bregman- 2-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI
• Triston Casas- 1-3, HR, 3 RBI, R, BB
• Brayan Bello (W, 1-0)- 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO

What’s Next

Seattle has now lost three straight series openers but bounced back the previous two series to still take two out of three. It will not be as easy in Boston against the Red Sox who have now won six of their last seven games. In game two on Wednesday at 3:45pm, Emerson Hancock (0-1, 12.71 ERA) will look to make it two strong starts in a row after he gave up just two runs in five innings his last time out in Cincinnati. Boston will send lefty Sean Newcomb (0-2, 3.63 ERA) to the mound in game two. Since Boston scored five runs for Newcomb in his first start, the southpaw has only gotten seven total runs of support in his last three starts.

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