Sale's strong outing helps Red Sox blank Mariners
Chris Sale struck out 13 in seven innings as the Boston Red Sox defeated the visiting Seattle Mariners 5-0 on Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park.
Sale (7-4) allowed only four hits and walked one. Mitch Moreland homered for the Red Sox, who took two of three games in the weekend series after splitting a four-game set last week in Seattle.
Joe Kelly and Matt Barnes each pitched a perfect inning of relief for the Red Sox to complete the shutout.
Sale didn't even reach a three-ball count on a batter until walking Guillermo Heredia with two outs in the seventh.
The left-hander improved to 6-1 in his career against the Mariners. He has pitched at least seven innings and allowed three or fewer runs in eight straight starts against them, tying his longest streak against a single opponent set against Toronto from April 18, 2013 to Aug. 28, 2017.
The Mariners have lost six of their past seven games.
Seattle left-hander Marco Gonzales (7-5) matched Sale for the first four innings before running into trouble in the fifth.
Xander Bogaerts, who missed the previous game with a sprained left index finger, led off with a double to left field and Eduardo Nunez lined a single to center, sending Bogaerts to third. Rafael Devers hit a run-scoring double to right field to break the scoreless tie. The Red Sox made it 3-0 on sacrifice flies by Sandy Leon and Mookie Betts, who also missed Saturday's loss due to an illness.
After J.D. Martinez led off the sixth with a single, Moreland hit a two-run homer to center field, his 11th of the season, to make it 5-0.
Gonzales allowed five runs on seven hits in six innings. He didn't walk a batter and struck out six.
Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. went 3 for 3 to raise his average from .178 to .189.
Mariners shortstop Jean Segura, who is batting .334 and leads the majors with 32 multi-hit games, was sidelined for the fourth straight day with a right forearm infection.
--Field Level Media
