Boston @ Seattle preview
T-Mobile Park
Last Meeting ( Aug 25, 2010 ) Seattle 4, Boston 2
Clinging to life as their playoff hopes drift away, the Boston Red Sox might find a life raft in the Seattle Mariners.
The Red Sox (79-64) are 7 1/2 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the race for the wild card and eight full games behind the New York Yankees for the AL East lead with just 19 contests remaining. That’s a pretty slim margin for the Red Sox to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since 2006.
When they begin a three-game series against the Mariners at Safeco Field on Monday night, the Red Sox will face a team that has struggled offensively all season and one that returns home with a four-game losing streak.
In addition, the Mariners have scored three runs or fewer in 15 consecutive home games. The streak is the longest since a 15-game stretch by the 1954 Baltimore Orioles at Memorial Stadium.
Seattle scored just 10 runs during the four-game losing streak and suffered its 13th shutout in a 3-0 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.
The Mariners are 55-88 and tied with the Baltimore Orioles for the worst record in the American League and are last in the majors in batting average (.234) and RBIs (433).
Seattle needs to go 8-11 to avoid 100 losses, something that seems remote considering the Mariners must play AL West-leading Texas six more times and Tampa Bay three times.
Monday’s game also marks a homecoming of sorts for Boston left-hander Jon Lester (16-8, 3.26 ERA), a native of Puyallup, Wash., about a half hour south of Seattle. He will face Seattle right-hander Doug Fister (5-11, 3.84 ERA).
Lester has won five of his last six starts. In his last start Monday against Tampa Bay, Lester had 10 strikeouts for the third consecutive game in a 12-5 victory.
At Seattle, Lester is 1-2 with a 5.28 ERA in five starts. He had a stellar outing July 24, retiring the first 16 batters he faced and had a career-high 13 strikeouts, but still lost 5-1.
Fister won at Oakland on Tuesday for his first road victory since May 14. He will try to win his second straight game for the first time since April 13 and 19. Fister is 0-1 in two starts against the Red Sox.
Former Mariner Adrian Beltre leads the Red Sox in batting average (.326) and RBIs (96), numbers he never approached in five seasons as a member of the Mariners. His best batting average in Seattle was .276 in 2007.