Another ineffectual day at the plate doomed the Mariners, this time 5-0 Tuesday afternoon amid rain showers at Fenway Park.
In the two-game sweep, the Boston Red Sox outscored Seattle 11-1. The Mariners were nearly as futile against starter Josh Beckett as they were Monday against Jon Lester.
In seven innings, Beckett, who entered the game with a 5.97 ERA, gave up four hits and two walks and struck out nine, including six of the first nine he faced. The Mariners’ first baserunner was Dustin Ackley leading off the fourth. His swinging bunt evaded defenders. Justin Smoak appeared to have a home run, but after a replay review of several minutes, umpires ruled the fly ball curved right over the Pesky Pole in right field.
Only once in the last eight games have the Mariners, who have lost four of five on this 10-game road trip, scored more than four runs.
Nevertheless, manager Eric Wedge found a few positive signs.
“We still had some poor ABs, but four or five guys are headed in the right direction,” he said. “We just need for four or five others heading in that same direction. We had pitches to hit, but we tried to do too much.
“We had nine or 10 hard outs, which is an indication we’re getting going. We can’t control where the ball goes, but we can control our approach.”
The pitching victim was Blake Beavan, whose start was moved back two days to allow his pitching elbow to recover from being struck by a line drive. Beavan was somewhat effective — five hits, two walks and a hit batter — but it took him 93 pitches to get through four innings as the patient Red Sox lineup worked him hard. The Red Sox fouled off 37 pitches, mostly against Beavan.
He gave up a solo home run in the second to David Ortiz, and another run in the fourth on a double by shortstop Mike Aviles.
The Red Sox went up 3-0 in the fifth when Ortiz, against the standard defensive shift against him, delighted the crowd by dropping a bunt down the third base line past reliever Charlie Furbush for a single. He scored on a single by Will Middlebrooks.
The Mariners move on to another two-game series to Cleveland, starting Felix Hernandez against the Indians Wednesday, before spending the weekend in Colorado against the Rockies in the first interleague series of the season.
