Sox Down Mariners 5-4 In Fifteen Innings
It took the Red Sox 5 hours and 15 minutes to do it but they won again Wednesday night in dramatic fashion. Stephen Drew did it again last night at Fenway Park, hitting a bases loaded 15th inning walk-off single against the Seattle Mariners to give the Sox a 5-4 victory and vault them back into first place. Tampa Bay, who had earlier been thumped 7-0 by the Arizona Diamondbacks, dropped 1/2 game behind the Red Sox.
Jul 31, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox short stop
Stephen Drew(7) is congratulated by designated hitter
David Ortiz(34) after driving in the winning run to defeat the Seattle Mariners 5-4 in fifteen innings at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
These are the kinds of things that happen when teams do unexpectedly great things and it is what is making this version of the Red Sox so entertaining to watch. Last night’s walk-off was Boston’s 10th of the season, which is first in the majors.
John Lackey battled through seven innings, giving up eight hits and three runs while his counterpart, Hisashi Iwakuma, lasted 5.2 innings while giving up two runs.
Seattle scored in the fourth and sixth against Lackey and tacked on one more in the eighth off Junichi Tazawa to tie the Sox and send the game into extra innings.
As usual, Dustin Pedroia was in the thick of things all night for the Sox. Pedey knocked in three runs for Boston, two on a homer that cleared the Monster Seats to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh.
He started the rally in 15th with a walk and eventually scored the winning run on Drew’s single after getting to third on a ground out by David Ortiz and two walks to Mike Napoli (intentional) and Jonny Gomes (unintentional).
Both teams chewed through six pitchers during the lengthy affair with Boston’s Drake Britton eventually getting the win.
Drew said after the game, “It’s just huge to get a win. In this tight game, it’s back and forth. Their bullpen’s doing well and our bullpen’s doing well. We made some key plays in the 15 innings that kept us in the game. Overall it’s an exciting win and hopefully we keep this thing rolling.”
Ryan Dempster (6-8, 4.24 ERA) face off against Felix Hernandez (11-4, 2.34 ERA) tonight at 7:10 at Fenway Park.