Garrett Crochet pitched six strong innings and was backed by a pair of home runs as the Boston Red Sox defeated the host Seattle Mariners 3-1 Wednesday afternoon to take two of three games in the series.
Trevor Story and Marcelo Mayer went deep for the Red Sox, who have won seven of their past eight games despite not scoring more than four runs in that span.
Crochet (7-4) allowed one run on six hits. The left-hander didn’t walk a batter and struck out eight.
After Garrett Whitlock pitched a 1-2-3 seventh, the Red Sox brought in closer Aroldis Chapman in the eighth to face the top of Seattle’s batting order. The move paid off as Chapman didn’t allow a ball out of the infield, getting Dylan Moore to ground out before fanning Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh to ground out.
Red Sox reliever Greg Weissert worked the ninth for his third save of the season and the fourth of his career.
Mayer gave the Red Sox an early lead with a solo homer to right field leading off the second against Luis Castillo (4-5).
The Mariners tied the score in the bottom of the inning after Randy Arozarena led off with a sun-aided double that went off the glove of left fielder Jarren Duran just before he reached the wall. Arozarena took third on Mitch Garver’s flyout to deep center and scored on Crochet’s first wild pitch of the season.
The Red Sox took the lead for good in the fourth. Mayer drew a one-out walk and Story barely cleared the fence with a two-run shot to deep left-center. It was the seventh homer Castillo has allowed over his past three starts after giving up just four in his first 12 outings of the season.
Despite getting dinged by the long ball, Castillo still posted a quality start, going six innings and allowing three runs on three hits, with two walks and five strikeouts.