This is not an excuse but when you have a ton of injuries and a shitty bullpen not to mention a fraud lineup, you're susceptible to crazy games such as Thursday night at Safeco Field and last night.
In both cases, Red Sox starting pitchers carried no-hitters deep into the game and yet that didn't matter. Boston (55-43) was lucky to pull it out in 13 innings on Thursday but luck wasn't on their side last night as Jon Lester struck out a career-high 13 but that wasn't enough as the Mariners (38-60) won 5-1.
Lester (11-5) actually had a perfect game going until the sixth when Eric Patterson dropped a routine fly ball by Jack Wilson. Obviously, the next batter Michael Saunders crushed a two-run homer that the Sox never could recover from.
In the eighth, Milton Bradley tripled and then Wilson knocked him in with a suicide squeeze. When Chone Figgins decided to stop fighting his manager Don Wakamatsu and hit an RBI double, you had to know it was over. Manny Delcarmen made sure there would be no comeback as he hit Jose Lopez with the bases loaded for the Mariners' last run.
When all the damage was done, Lester went 7.2 innings and allowed four hits, five runs (four earned), one walk with 13 strikeouts.
Former Sox spot starter David Pauley has resurfaced in Seattle and he held his own against one of the game's best: 5.2 innings, five hits, one run (earned), one walk, five strikeouts.
Boston's only run came in the fourth on David Ortiz's 19th home run of the season.
The Red Sox turn to Dice-K this afternoon as they try to take the series from the Mariners. Seattle counters with lefty Doug Fister.
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