G76: Mariners 1, Red Sox 0

Red Sox  - 000 000 000 - 0  5  1
Mariners - 000 000 001 - 1  5  0

Pinch-hitter John Jaso singled home Casper Wells, who had doubled to the left-center gap off Scott Atchison with one out. Cody Ross's throw from right field on Jaso's liner was on the money, if slightly up the third base line, but catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia could not hold onto the ball, and Wells scored the night's only run.

Felix Hernandez (9-5-0-1-13, 128) tied a career-high in strikeouts, getting the upper hand over a spectacular effort from Franklin Morales (7-3-0-2-7, 109), in his third start of the season. Morales did not allow a hit until the fourth inning and did not allow a Seattle runner to second base until the seventh.

Boston's best opportunities to score:

3rd inning: With two outs, Mike Aviles and Daniel Nava both singled. Dustin Pedroia flied out to left-center, as Franklin Gutierrez made a nice running catch. (An inning later, Gutierrez was hit in the right side of the face with a throw to first base and left the game.)

7th inning: Adrian Gonzalez singled and took second on a wild pitch with one out. Felix struck out both Will Middlebrooks and Ross.

9th inning: David Ortiz singled with one out and Salty walked. Brent Lillibridge pinch-ran for Flo. Mike Saunders, who took over for Gutierrez in center, made a running catch on the warning track in left-center of Gonzalez's deep drive. WMB popped the first pitch up to second.

All five AL East teams lost tonight.

Franklin Morales / Felix Hernandez

Nava, LF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Saltalamacchia, C
Gonzalez, 1B
Middlebrooks, 3B
Ross, LF
Kalish, CF
Aviles, SS

            W   L   GB   RS   RA  DIFF  EXP W-L
Yankees    46  28  ---  355  292  + 63   44-30
Orioles    41  32  4.5  310  310     0   37-36
Red Sox    40  35  6.5  397  344  + 53   42-33
Rays       40  35  6.5  317  311  +  6   38-37
Blue Jays  38  37  8.5  367  343  + 24   40-35

Since May 12, the Red Sox are 27-16 (.628, 102-win pace). However, they have gained only one game in the standings because the Yankees have gone 28-14 (.667, 108-win pace) in that same time period. It's a bit disheartening, until you realize we've been playing .630 ball for six weeks with half a lineup and more players on the disabled list than any team in MLB.

After this seven-game west coast trip to Seattle and Oakland, the Red Sox return to Fenway Park on Friday, July 6 for four games against the Yankees that will take us into the All-Star break. ... It's possible that both Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford will be ready to return for the second half.