G48: Red Sox 6, Mariners 0

Mariners - 000 000 000 - 0  5  0
Red Sox  - 300 002 01x - 6  9  0

Brian Johnson: Have A Drink On Me!

In only the third start of his major league career, Johnson (9-5-0-0-8, 109) pitched a complete-game shutout, leading the Red Sox to their sixth consecutive victory. Of his 109 pitches, Johnson threw 85 strikes (78%).

Jean Segura, the first batter of the game, worked the count full before grounding out. Johnson faced 31 more batters in the game and went to a three-ball count only once: Kyle Seager in the fourth (Johnson struck him out).

Two of Seattle's five singles came in the fifth inning, the only time Johnson was challenged. With runners at second and third, he got the final out when Jean Segura flied to right. (In his previous two starts, Johnson had pitched only 4.1 and 5 innings.)

Boston swarmed all over Rob Whalen (5.1-7-5-2-0, 89) for three runs in the first inning (but also shot themselves in the foot by having two runners thrown out on the bases). Mookie Betts walked on four pitches. He stole second before Dustin Pedroia was hit by a pitch. Xander Bogaerts singled to left, scoring Betts, but Pedroia was thrown out at third. Andrew Benintendi singled to right-center, bringing Bogaerts home. Hanley Ramirez was hit by a pitch and, after Mitch Moreland flied to right, Jackie Bradley walked, loading the bases. Sandy Leon singled to left. Benintendi scored the third run, but Ramirez was thrown out at the plate.

Whalen threw 33 pitches in that inning, but he settled down after that. The Red Sox helped him out by often swinging early in the count. A string of six batters in the second and third innings saw only 12 pitches; one of those batters, Leon, saw five pitches, so Whalen threw a total of seven pitches to the other five batters.

Jackie Bradley hit a two-run homer in the sixth. Moreland had reached on a one-out single before Bradley went deep for the fifth time this year. In the eighth, Moreland drove in Ramirez, who had singled and gone to second on a wild pitch).

Red Sox pitchers have not allowed a run in their last 21 innings. ... Johnson threw 24 balls in nine innings. Whalen threw 14 balls in the first inning alone. ...  Time of game: 2:23.

Seattle's hits: one-out single in the first, one-out infield single in the third, one-out single in the fifth, two-out single in the fifth, two-out single in the seventh.

Rob Whalen / Brian Johnson

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

This afternoon's starting pitchers have a total of seven career appearances between them.

Whalen, a 23-year-old right-hander, made five starts for Atlanta last year. This is first start of 2017.

Johnson, 26, made one start for the Red Sox in 2015 and one start last month. On April 18, he went five innings against the Blue Jays, allowing four runs. This is the lefty's first appearance in Fenway Park.

John Farrell on Johnson:

We've seen a gradual increase in his stuff overall. There's been better crispness, there's been better strike throwing, there's the ability to put away guys with a breaking ball, a slight uptick in velocity...

For Those About To Pitch:

Elias Says:

Masahiro Tanaka was the losing pitcher in the Bronx as the Yankees fell 4-1 to the A's, despite allowing only one run in 7.1 innings in which he struck out 13 batters and did not walk even one. The only other pitcher in Yankees history who earned a loss in a game in which he struck out 13+ batters and did not issue a walk was Roger Clemens. He was the tough luck pitcher on May 28, 2000 versus the Red Sox, outdueled by Pedro Martinez, who threw a four-hit shutout. Trot Nixon hit a two-run homer off Clemens in the top of the ninth inning for the only runs of the game.

That amazing Sunday night game was played almost exactly 17 years ago. I have to note that in the top of the ninth, Clemens retired the first two Red Sox batters. Then Jeff Frye singled (an infield hit that went in and out of Clemens's glove) and Nixon homered. Clemens had apparently barked something at Nixon back in the first inning after Nixon was called out on strikes - and by the final inning, Trot was fired up, eager for revenge. In the bottom of the ninth, Pedro hit two batters and ended up facing Tino Martinez with the bases loaded and two outs. Tino swung and missed Pedro's first pitch before grounding out to second.