G37: Red Sox 4, Mariners 2

Red Sox  - 011 002 000 - 4  8  0
Mariners - 100 010 000 - 2  5  0

After Felix Hernandez had walked both Xander Bogaerts and Daniel Nava with one out in the sixth inning, Blake Swihart jumped on the first pitch he saw and rapped a double to the gap in left center. Bogaerts scored, snapping a 2-2 tie. After yet another walk (to Jackie Bradley) loaded the bases, Brock Holt brought home another run with a groundout.

Tonight's game was only the fifth time in 15 games this month that the Red Sox scored more than two runs. With such a low level of run production - the team began the night with a May batting average of .207 - it's a wonder the team is 6-9 in this month.

Before that rally, the scoring came via solo home runs. Brad Miller went deep on Rick Porcello's (6.2-5-2-2-6, 105) eighth pitch of the night, giving Seattle an early lead. But Boston answered quickly, as Pablo Sandoval nailed Hernandez's (6-7-4-4-5, 101) first offering of the second inning over the fence in center. David Ortiz lined a dong to right-center in the third and Miller went deep for the second time in the fifth.

Porcello pitched well, although he did not retire the Mariners in order in any inning. He stranded men at second and third in the fourth inning, after a two-out ground rule double by Dustin Ackley meant that Kyle Seager had to stop at third base.

Porcello began the seventh inning at 96 pitches - and retired Seattle's 8-9 hitters on ground balls to short. Tommy Layne struck out Seth Smith to end the inning. Layne also got the first two batters in the eighth before Junichi Tazawa came in to face Nelson Cruz. Tonight's at-bat went better than last night's as Cruz popped to Bogaerts.

Koji Uehara pitched the ninth, getting Seager on a high fly to right, striking out Logan Morrison, and retiring Ackley on a grounder to first.

Boston (18-19) will try to get back to .500 tomorrow afternoon for the first time since May 2.

Rick Porcello / Felix Hernandez

Holt, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, LF
Sandoval, 3B
Bogaerts, SS
Nava, 1B
Swihart, C
Bradley, CF

WEEI has some stats from Hernandez's impressive start to the season:

King Felix leads the American League with a 6-0 record and is third among AL starters with a 1.85 ERA, first with a 0.84 WHIP, fourth with a .192 batting average against, and fifth with 50 strikeouts. He has walked just eight batters. In his seven starts, Hernandez went fewer than 6.2 innings just once and has gone at least seven innings in five of his outings.

Over his last five starts, opponents are batting .178/.221/.271 against Hernandez.

Only a couple of Red Sox batters have done well against Hernandez: David Ortiz: .361/.455/.500 (13-for-36) with one home run. Dustin Pedroia: .302/.362/.395 in 47 PA.

In his last three starts (19 innings), Porcello has allowed only four runs.