SEATTLE — Center fielder Mookie Betts’ short fly in the ninth inning night at Safeco Field lifted the Boston Red Sox to a 2-1 win over the Seattle Mariners in the opener of a four-game series Thursday night.
Facing closer Fernando Rodney, Betts stuck with a low 1-2 changeup on the seventh pitch of the at-bat and lifted it to left fielder Rickie Weeks. Weeks, a longtime second baseman, roamed slowly to his left and let the baseball ricochet off his glove before it hit the ground, and third baseman Brock Holt, who had led off with a double, scored from third.
Betts’ fly probably was deep enough to score Holt regardless of whether it was caught. Still, Weeks, who converted to outfield this season, shook his head and pounded his glove. He entered the game in the bottom of the eighth to pinch-hit for Brad Miller, who was making the first start of his career in left.
“You live with it. It’s just the way it is,” manager Lloyd McClendon said. “Every team in baseball has warts. Nobody has a perfect team. I’m not going to sit here and say the play in the ninth inning cost us the game, because it didn’t. … They got him over, and it was a sacrifice fly with an error. Those things happen. That’s baseball. The best of ‘em make errors, trust me.”
The inning was enough to give reliever Matt Barnes (2-0) the win for the Red Sox (17-18), while Rodney fell to 1-2 for the Mariners (15-19). Barnes did his own escape act in the eighth by getting Kyle Seager to ground into a double play with two on.
Boston closer Koji Uehara pitched a perfect ninth inning for his eighth save.
Offense was tough to find.
Right fielder Shane Victorino continued to torment Mariners pitching in the fourth inning when he lifted a solo homer off left-hander Roenis Elias that easily cleared the left field wall, staking the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. In the seventh, he made an incredible running catch when pinch hitter Justin Ruggiano lifted a deep fly to the warning track. Victorino lifted his glove at the last moment, caught it, lightly slammed into the wall and doubled Chris Taylor off first base with an accurate throw.
“He’ll probably be on ‘SportsCenter’ No. 1 for a month or so,” Red Sox starter Joe Kelly said. “That was a pretty awesome play to watch.”
The Mariners evened the score at 1 in the sixth after designated hitter Nelson Cruz walked and Seager followed with a single. They both advanced on a wild pitch, and first baseman Logan Morrison registered a weak RBI groundout.
Elias skirted trouble for most the night. Making his fourth start this season with the Mariners after beginning the year with Triple-A Tacoma, the Cuban defector scattered eight hits over 6 1/3 innings. However, he allowed just one run while walking two and striking out two. It was Elias’ third consecutive quality start, but he has yet to pick up a win.
“He pitched a great game,” McClendon said. “That’s his fourth game in a row where he pitched and deserved to get the win, and he didn’t get the win. But he was outstanding. I didn’t want him to go through the lineup four times.”
Kelly settled for a no-decision after allowing one run over 6 1/3 innings. He struck out two. It was a vast uptick from his last start, when he allowed a season-high seven walks and six runs in a loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.
The improvement, he said, came from scaling back his fastball that can reach triple digits. He also threw more two-seamers, which helped his control.
“He didn’t overthrow the baseball,” manager John Farrell said. “He was down in the strike zone. He used a good mix of his secondary stuff to keep guys off stride. … A lot of efficient innings, and he was able to get to the seventh fairly easily.”
The Red Sox, after a miserable start to the season, won for the fourth time in five games.
“There’s a lot of energy in here,” Farrell said. “I think everyone is aware that we haven’t played to our capabilities. That’s not targeting any one area. We need to play better, and we’re starting to do that.”