SEATTLE _ On the day they placed Hunter Strickland with on the injured list and with Cory Gearrin unavailable due to usage the night before, the Seattle Mariners tried to build a lead that their pieced-together bullpen could withstand.
Going into the bottom of the ninth inning with a four-run lead, the odds for victory seemed fair to good.
But that doesn't mean it would be easy.
Utility infielder Dylan Moore, who got the start at third base, committed three errors in the inning with two outs that led to three runs. But Nick Rumbelow managed to strike out Xander Bogaerts looking to allow the Mariners to escape with a 6-5 win over the Boston Red Sox.
With two outs, Moore bobbled a ground ball and overthrew first for a run to score. He then got eaten up by a hard ground ball off the bat of Rafael Devers for another error that allowed a run to score. The cruelty continued when J.D. Martinez hit a ground ball to third that Moore bobbled and then bounced over to first base where Ryon Healy couldn't make the stop.
Three errors, three runs.
But Rumbelow was able to get Bogaerts looking to end Moore's misery.
The Mariners got a great effort in relief from right-hander Brandon Brennan, who pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth inning.
After looking less than stellar in his previous outing _ a meaningless exhibition game against the San Diego Padres _ Seattle starter Mike Leake turned in a solid showing against a lineup that isn't enjoyable navigating while throwing to a catcher he met Friday. Leake worked six innings, allowing two runs on seven hits with two walks and seven strikeouts to notch his first win of the season.
Leake did what he does in most starts: throw strikes, pitch to contact, get ground balls and wiggle out of serious trouble despite runners on base. Working with catcher Tom Murphy, who was acquired late Thursday evening and joined the team Friday, Leake worked just one clean inning, but also only allowed one extra-base hit _ a double to Mitch Moreland in the second inning on a fly ball to the gap in left-center that probably should've been caught.
The Mariners grabbed a 2-0 lead off Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez in the first inning. Mitch Haniger worked a leadoff single and later came around to score on Tim Beckham's looping single to center. Healy drove in the second run of the frame on a hard double to the left-field corner, scoring Jay Bruce, who had drawn a two-out walk. Besides the lead, the Mariners forced Rodriguez to throw 31 pitches in the frame.
Boston came back to pick up runs in the second and third inning off Leake to tie the score.
But Seattle took the lead for good in the fourth inning. Healy led off the inning with a double to right field _ all five of hits this season have been extra-base hits _ and later scored on Dee Gordon's two-out broken bat single.
Seattle took control of the game in the fifth inning when Bruce ambushed a first-pitch, 91-mph fastball from Rodriguez, sending a laser over the wall in deep right-center for a three-run homer. It was Bruce's first homer of the season and it was the Mariners' 13th homer as a team. The Mariners have homered in all four games of their games this season.
