G47: Red Sox 3, Mariners 0

Mariners - 000 000 000 - 0  6  2
Red Sox  - 010 002 00x - 3  8  0

For the first time this season, the Red Sox have won five straight games. Tonight's win also moved them into second place in the East.

Eduardo Rodriguez (6-5-0-3-4, 112) allowed men on base in every inning, but never buckled. He worked with a man on third with one out in the second inning, and stranded him there. And after a one-out double in the third, Rodriguez kept the ball in the infield and the runner was left at third. Heath Hembree, Matt Barnes, and Craig Kimbrel each pitched one inning of relief. The Mariners got an infield single off Barnes, but did nothing with it.

Hanley Ramirez opened the second inning with a double off Yovani Gallardo (5.1-7-3-6-5, 112). Groundouts by Mitch Moreland and Josh Rutledge brought Ramirez around to score. Jackie Bradley doubled and Christian Vazquez walked, but Gallardo struck out Deven Marrero.

Boston threatened in the third. With two outs and the bases empty, Xander Bogaerts reached first on an infield hit. Ramirez and Moreland both walked, loading the bases. However, Rutledge flied out to right.

Boston had runners at first and third with one out in the fourth, but Mookie Betts grounded into a double play.

In the sixth, the Mariners gave the Red Sox two runs on a silver platter. Rutledge reached on an infield single and Bradley walked. They both advanced when Vazquez grounded out and Gallardo walked Marrero on four pitches, loading the bases. Gallardo's 0-1 pitch to Betts was wild and Rutledge scored. Gallardo eventually walked Betts, reloading the bases. The Mariners went to the bullpen and Dan Altavilla's first pitch, to Andrew Benintendi, was mishandled by catcher Mike Zunino. Bradley scored on the passed ball. Benintendi struck out and, after Bogaerts walked, Ramírez flied out to left. ... So: 1 infield hit, 4 walks, 1 wild pitch, and 1 passed ball. Runs rarely come more gift-wrapped than that.

Neither team got a hit with runners on second/and or third - Mariners 0-for-6, Red Sox 0-for-9 - but it didn't matter to Boston (26-21). ... Oakland scored four late runs and beat the Yankees 4-1 and the Astros blanked the Orioles 2-0. ... The AL East standings haven't looked this good in awhile:

MFY 27-18 ---
BOS 26-21 2.0
BAL 25-21 2.5

The last time the Red Sox were not in third or fourth place was back on April 18, when they were 9-5 and tied for first with both Baltimore and New York.

Everyone says not to look at the schedule ahead, but (1) that only applies to the players and (2) sometimes you can't help it: June 1-8, four games in Baltimore and three games in New York.

Yovani Gallardo / Eduardo Rodriguez

Betts, RF
Benintendi, LF
Bogaerts, SS
Ramirez, DH
Moreland, 1B
Rutledge, 2B
Bradley, CF
Vazquez, C
Marrero, 3B

Dustin Pedroia, who left last night's game after experiencing some pain in his left knee, is not in the lineup.

After pitching six innings in five consecutive starts, Rodriguez went eight innings last Sunday in Oakland. In those six starts, he has a 2.61 ERA and a 11/40 walk/strikeout ratio.

More about last night, from Ian Browne and T.R. Sullivan, MLB.com:

The four strikeouts from Kimbrel were made possible by a controversial call by home-plate umpire Chad Fairchild, who awarded Nomar Mazara first base after he struck out swinging on a pitch that hit him on the back foot. Fairchild didn't see that Mazara was hit by the offering, and called it a wild pitch. Farrell was told the play was not reviewable.

"It was just a swinging strike three, ball that got away, and obviously he reached first base," said crew chief Alfonso Marquez. "The only thing I can tell you, the only thing I will say is, this was a replay issue."

MLB later released a statement acknowledging that the replay official and replay supervisor should have allowed for a review.

A review should have been allowed? There was a review! Two umpires were on the headsets and presumably in contact with whoever in New York, getting a final decision on the play.

According to this story, Farrell was told the play was not reviewable, Marquez said it was a replay issue, and MLB said a review should have occurred. All that seems clear from this article is that the entire umpiring crew had no clue what was going on. Does this make any sense to anyone?

UPDATE: Alex Speier looks at the blown call in a Globe article. He quoted John Farrell:

Strike three/hit by pitch is an automatic out. ... I challenged the call, challenged that he was hit by a pitch, which in fact he was. And then it was brought back to me that it's not a reviewable or challengeable pitch. Any hit by pitch is reviewable. I still to this moment don't know why that ruling came down.