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Mariners hang on to defeat Red Sox

Aug 14, 2011 - 6:34 AM Seattle, WA (Sports Network) - Ichiro Suzuki and Casper Wells homered during Seattle's five-run first inning, but the Mariners had to hold on for a 5-4 victory against the Red Sox.

Mike Carp added a two-run single in the opening inning for Seattle, which rebounded from Friday's 6-4 loss in the opener of this three-game series.

Despite the early 5-0 lead on Saturday, the Mariners ended up taking a narrow victory.

Felix Hernandez (11-10) held Boston off the scoreboard until the sixth inning, when Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia smacked two-run homers to pull the Red Sox within one.

After Hernandez pitched a scoreless seventh, Boston slugger David Ortiz nearly hit a game-tying homer off Jamey Wright in the eighth. But Wright managed to keep the Red Sox off the scoreboard, and Brandon League worked the ninth for his 28th save.

Josh Beckett (9-5) took the loss after allowing all of the Mariners' runs, and lasted five innings.

He had trouble recording outs early in his outing. Suzuki began the bottom of the first inning with his second homer of the season, a blast to right field, and Franklin Gutierrez followed with a single.

Dustin Ackley added a double before Carp's base hit plated two runs. Beckett finally got an out by retiring Wily Mo Pena on a fly to center, but Wells homered to left-center, making it a 5-0 game.

"It was great to see us come out there and be aggressive and jump on them early, especially against a guy like Beckett," said Mariners manager Eric Wedge.

Boston had a good chance to reduce the Mariners' lead in the fourth inning, which Ellsbury began with a walk. He moved to second when Carp failed to catch a pickoff attempt, and advanced to third on a Carl Crawford single. Adrian Gonzalez's groundout put runners on second and third with one out.

But the Red Sox came up empty. Ellsbury tried to tag up when Pedroia lined out to right, but Seattle catcher Josh Bard held on to Suzuki's strong throw during a collision at the plate to end the inning. Boston manager Terry Francona was ejected for arguing after the play.

After Seattle left the bases loaded in the fifth, the Red Sox broke through.

Marco Scutaro opened the sixth with a triple and crossed the plate on Ellsbury's 20th homer of the year. Gonzalez later reached on a bunt single and scored on Pedroia's blast.

Boston put two more runners on base during the inning, but Hernandez got Jason Varitek to line out, then threw a 1-2-3 seventh.

"His stuff is some of the best in the game," Pedroia said. "I thought we did a good job against him that (sixth) inning, but he went out the next inning and pounded the zone and got us out. That's why he's one of the best."

Wright used a double play to get the first two outs of the eighth and bring up Ortiz, who crushed a ball down the right field line. The high and far drive sliced just to the right of the foul pole and put Ortiz back in the batter's box.

He eventually walked, but pinch-runner Darnell McDonald was caught stealing thanks to an ultra-accurate throw by Bard.

League struck out two during a perfect ninth.

Game Notes

Seattle snapped a five-game losing streak against Boston...The Mariners placed first baseman Justin Smoak on the 15-day disabled list Saturday. Smoak was hit in the face by a ball on a bad-hop grounder in the second inning of Friday's game. An X-ray revealed that he has a non-displaced fracture on his nose and a hairline fracture in his left cheek...Beckett matched a season high with five runs allowed.