BOSTON — Rafael Devers doubled home the winning run in the 10th inning for his third hit of the game, and the Boston Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 3-2 on Wednesday.
Zack Kelly (4-1) pitched out of a major jam in a scoreless 10th for the win. Danny Jansen hit a tying single in the sixth and Boston took two of three from the Mariners, who are locked in a tight race with Houston atop the AL West.
“It feels like a relief, to be honest with you,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “To win the series, it feels good.”
Josh Rojas homered for Seattle, and Dylan Moore had an RBI single.
Tyler O’Neill was the automatic runner at second as Devers led off the bottom of the 10th. With an open base at first and left-hander Jhonathan Díaz on the mound, Seattle manager Scott Servais chose to pitch to the left-handed-hitting Devers — and the All-Star slugger made the Mariners pay.
Devers drove a 2-0 slider from Díaz (0-1) off the bottom portion of the Green Monster in left-center, and O’Neill scored easily as the ball caromed away from Seattle’s outfielders.
It was Boston’s fourth walk-off win this season, and the first game-ending hit for Devers since June 14, 2021.
“It felt very good to help the team win, and happy we were able to win this series,” Devers said. “We need to win every game, every series in the second half. Winning is very important in the second half and I was very happy to be able to do it.”
Kelly threw a wild pitch in the top of the 10th that allowed automatic runner Cal Raleigh to reach third with nobody out. But the right-hander struck out Mariners newcomer Justin Turner and retired Leo Rivas on a grounder that kept Raleigh pinned at third.
After Luke Raley was hit by a pitch and Moore walked to load the bases, Mitch Garver grounded out to end the inning.
“We had a lot of opportunities to bust it open,” Servais said. “In a game like this, you’re just like one big hit away from getting on the good side of this thing, but not for lack of effort. But, I like the way we’re playing. The at-bats are better. We just didn’t come through with runners in scoring position today.”
Boston opened the scoring in the first inning when Masataka Yoshida walked with two outs and went to third on Devers’ double before scoring on a wild pitch by George Kirby.
Moore tied it with a two-out single in the fourth after Raleigh led off with a double. Rojas homered to straightaway center in the fifth.
After a one-out double in the sixth, Dominic Smith scored when Jansen chased Kirby with an RBI single.
Kirby gave up two runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings, snapping his streak of quality starts at nine. It was the longest such streak by a Mariners pitcher since Félix Hernández had 16 straight in 2014.
“They’ve got a lot of good hitters that work counts,” said Kirby, who threw a first-pitch knuckleball in tribute to former Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield, who died of cancer in October. “Wasn’t getting a lot of chase on the splitter. I would have liked more swings and misses, but they made it tough today.”
Boston starter Brayan Bello went 6 1/3 innings, permitting two runs and seven hits with seven strikeouts.
Lucas Sims, making his Red Sox debut after being acquired from Cincinnati in a trade Tuesday, replaced Bello with runners at the corners and got out of the jam when Turner grounded out with the bases loaded.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mariners: OF Victor Robles, who left Tuesday’s game in the eighth inning because of a hip issue that’s been bothering him, was not in the starting lineup. After an off day Thursday, the Mariners hope he will be back in the lineup Friday.
Red Sox: 1B Triston Casas, on the injured list since April 21 with a left rib strain, was scheduled to play nine innings at first base in a rehab game for Triple-A Worcester on Wednesday night. … INF Vaughn Grissom, on the IL since June 2 with a right hamstring strain, was scheduled to play second base for Worcester, continuing his rehab assignment.
UP NEXT
Mariners: Return home Friday to open a three-game set against Philadelphia. RHP Tyler Phillips (3-0, 1.80 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Phillies. Seattle had not announced a starting pitcher.
Red Sox: RHP Kutter Crawford (6-8, 3.60 ERA) starts Friday at Texas, which had not announced a starter yet.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
