Wright provides relief in Red Sox's 10-inning win
SEATTLE -- Recent Boston Red Sox call-up Steven Wright came out of the visiting bullpen on Thursday afternoon bearing a gift for his catcher in the form of a larger glove that he carries into each of his outings.
The 28-year-old right-hander figures it is the least he could do as a converted knuckleballer. And the Red Sox paid him back with a gift of his own: his first career victory.
Wright pitched 5 2/3 innings of scoreless relief before Boston's Daniel Nava drove in the tiebreaking run with a two-out single in the top of the 10th inning, extending the Red Sox's winning streak to three games with an 8-7 victory over the Seattle Mariners.
"Our bullpen was taxed a little bit, and for Wrighty to come on and give that many innings was huge," said Red Sox catcher Ryan Lavarnway, who used Wright's custom glove and then started the 10th-inning rally with a walk.
Wright, who was called up from Triple-A Pawtucket on Wednesday and was still being considered as Sunday's starter, made a somewhat unexpected appearance out of the bullpen in relief of struggling Ryan Dempster and made the most of his opportunity.
"It's exciting," Wright said. "It was fun to watch how those guys were able to score runs and keep fighting."
The Red Sox (57-37) fell into a 5-1 hole in the third inning and trailed 7-4 in the fourth when Wright came to the rescue.
The score was tied 7-7 midway through the fifth when two teams that ended up scoring 64 runs in the four-game series finally stopped hitting.
After Lavarnway walked to start the 10th, pinch-runner Jackie Bradley Jr. moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and Seattle reliever Tom Wilhelmsen intentionally walked red-hot Boston hitter Jacoby Ellsbury to get to Nava.
The switch-hitting Nava singled through a huge gap up the middle, scoring Bradley from second with the eventual winning run.
"I was just trying to get on top of something," Nava said, adding that the intentional walk made him want to disprove the theory that "I'm the guy they just think they're going to get out without a fight. If anything, you just want to have a good at-bat."
For the first five innings, both offenses continued to dominate. Seattle starter Erasmo Ramirez lasted 4 2/3 innings in his 2013 debut, giving up six hits and seven runs while walking four. Dempster didn't make it out of the fourth, giving up seven runs (four earned) and nine hits in 3 1/3 innings.
Ellsbury welcomed Ramirez back with a home run on the third pitch of the game, giving the Red Sox a 1-0 lead.
Seattle's Kyle Seager tied the score with a leadoff homer in the second.
Then the Mariners took advantage of a Boston error to score three more runs on the way to a 4-1 lead through two innings. Red Sox third baseman Brock Holt couldn't corral a two-out ground ball and back-to-back hits from Brad Miller and Endy Chavez brought in three unearned runs for the Mariners.
Seattle put together another two-out rally in the third when they took advantage of a walk and hit-by-pitch before Michael Saunders hit an RBI single for a 5-1 lead. But Boston got three runs back with consecutive two-out singles in the top of the fourth to pull within 5-4.
The Mariners finally chased Dempster from the game during a two-run fourth that gave them a 7-4 lead.
Boston responded with three runs to chase Ramirez from the game in the top of the fifth while tying the score 7-7.
Wright (1-0) came on in relief of Dempster kept the score tied through the ninth inning.
Boston reliever Koji Uehara pitched a perfect bottom of the 10th to pick up his seventh save.
It wasn't a great outing for either starter.
"He made it a lot more difficult for himself -- and for us in general," Mariners manager Eric Wedge said of Ramirez.
The pitcher who ended up going to longest was Wright, a 28-year-old starter-turned-reliever who didn't even know his role until the phone rang in the third inning.
"The fact that he kept putting up zeroes," Boston manager John Farrell said, "we rode him as long as we could."
The Red Sox were glad to reward Wright (1-0) with a victory. After he came out of the bullpen bearing his own present, it was the least they could do.
"I put on my own glove after the game and it felt like I was wearing an oven mitt," Lavarnway said.
NOTES: Mariners 2B Nick Franklin (knee) was held out of Thursday's game. SS Brendan Ryan replaced him and Miller moved from shortstop to second base. ... To make room for Ramirez, the Mariners optioned RHP Carter Capps to Triple-A Tacoma. Capps was 2-2 with a 6.37 ERA in 33 appearances this season but had a 17.18 ERA in seven games since June 16. ... Boston's Sunday starter is still listed as TBA, but LHP Drake Britton of Triple-A Pawtucket looks more and more like the pick after recent call-ups Wright and Brandon Workman were used out of the bullpen on successive days. Britton made his first Triple-A start Tuesday after going 7-6 with a 3.51 ERA at Double-A. ... Seager's second-inning homer gave the Mariners at least one home run in 19 consecutive games, matching the club record. The last time Seattle hit home runs in 19 consecutive games was in September 1999. ... Chavez came out of the game in the fourth inning, a few minutes after beating out a bunt because of right groin tightness.