SEATTLE — Julio Rodríguez hit a tiebreaking RBI single and stole home in a four-run seventh inning, leading the Seattle Mariners to a 6-3 win over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday.
Rodríguez’s broken-bat grounder rolled into left field when Boston shortstop Yu Chang and third baseman Rafael Devers collided while trying to field the ball, allowing Tom Murphy to score.
“It wasn’t pretty,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “There have been much prettier singles. Your bat gets blown up and it goes right at the shortstop when he’s trying to field the ball. But, we often talk, it’s baseball. You need a little luck once in awhile.”
Eugenio Suárez followed with an RBI single to right field, giving the Mariners a two-run lead. Then, Rodríguez, on a double steal with Suárez, scored from third when Boston catcher Connor Wong threw to second base.
Rodríguez now has a career-high 27 game on-base streak, the longest active streak in MLB and Seattle’s longest since 2016. His stolen base was his 25th of the season, and 50th of his career.
Jarren Duran opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the third against Mariners starter Logan Gilbert, and Masataka Yoshida made it 3-0 with a run-scoring infield single in the fifth.
Cal Raleigh hit a two-run homer off Red Sox reliever John Schreiber (1-1) in the sixth, and Cade Marlowe tied it up with a pinch-hit single in the seventh off Richard Bleier.
Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford allowed four hits over five shutout innings, while Gilbert allowed three runs and five hits over six frames with five strikeouts.
Matt Brash (7-3), Gabe Speier, Justin Topa, and Andrés Muñoz combined for three shutout innings in relief, with Muñoz earning his third save.
Murphy had three singles for the Mariners, and extended his hitting streak to six games. Murphy is hitting .455 in that span.
“Just the effect he has on this team, I don’t know if you can really put it into words,” Gilbert said. “It’s more than just three hits today, even though that’s great. But he’s just kind of that leader behind the plate, takes hold of the pitching staff. There’s a lot that goes into that job, and he kind of does everything.”
The win clinched the club’s fourth consecutive series victory, and put the Mariners back at four games above .500.
“This team is gaining momentum,” Servais said. “They believe in themselves, no matter what the score is or where we’re at in the game, and that’s what it takes this time of year. You’ve just got to keep believing, believing, believing something good will happen. And oftentimes it does.”
With the loss, the Red Sox finished their six-game road trip with a 2-4 record.
“It’s a tough one, but we’re going home and we’ve got a good stretch coming up,” manager Alex Cora said. “Two walk-off losses (in San Francisco) and two tough games here. We didn’t play great baseball.”
ROOKIE OF THE MONTH
Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas was named American League Rookie of the Month for July. Casas hit a career-high .349 last month, with a .442 on-base percentage, .758 slugging percentage, and seven homers and 13 RBI.
NO TURNER
Red Sox third baseman Justin Turner was out of the lineup for the second straight day after suffering a heel contusion in Monday’s game. He is expected to play Friday, against Toronto.
UP NEXT
Mariners’ Bryan Woo (1-3, 4.96 ERA) is 0-2 with a 5.47 ERA in his last five starts, and will pitch Thursday in the opener of a four-game series at the Angels. Woo allowed three earned runs on seven hits over five innings on Saturday against Arizona.
