• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Hernandez, Mariners take advantage of shorthanded Red Sox

Jun 7, 2008 - 3:47 AM By Mike Petraglia PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BOSTON (Ticker) -- The Seattle Mariners picked the right time to play one of their best games and the Boston Red Sox played like a team still recovering from a brawl-filled game the previous night.

Felix Hernandez scattered six hits over six scoreless innings and his teammates took advantage of three errors as the Mariners beat the Red Sox, 8-0, on Friday night at Fenway Park.

Richie Sexson had three hits while Raul Ibanez added two hits and scored three times for the Mariners, who snapped a four-game skid.

Boston had its major league-best 13-game home winning streak snapped. The club had not lost at Fenway since dropping a 3-0 decision to Toronto on May 1.

Hernandez (4-5), meanwhile, improved to 3-1 lifetime against the Red Sox, striking out five while walking three.

"I tried to use all my pitches. My two-seamer, my curveball and my fastball," Hernandez said. "It worked pretty good. I kept the ball down in the strike zone. Any successful pitcher wants to do that."

Hernandez has yet to allow a run in 15 career innings in two starts at Fenway.

"Felix stepped up and has been pretty good in Fenway Park," Mariners manager John McLaren said. "We took advantage of the other team, which we haven't been able to do, and we did tonight. They opened the door for us and we took advantage of it. Good win, of course, and I hope it's a lot of good wins to come. We can build from this."

The Red Sox made Hernandez earn his fourth win of the season, forcing him to throw 106 pitches.

"He made those (106) pitches count, though," Red Sox rookie left fielder Brandon Moss said. "He pitched well even though we made him pitch a lot. His curveball was pretty good. He was throwing it for a strike and a chase pitch below the zone. It was really working for him."

"We dug ourselves a hole against the wrong guy," Red Sox manager Terry Francona added. "He's got great stuff. He pitched some real good off-speed pitches. The fastball is obvious, but he kept us off-balance with the off-speed."

The Mariners handed Red Sox starter Bartolo Colon (3-1) his first loss in four decisions with the Red Sox.

"We took advantage of some mistakes, for the most part," Sexson said. "I wouldn't call him hittable. On any given day, he could bring his 'C' game and get people out. He didn't have his best stuff but we took advantage of some errors. We haven't been doing that but tonight we did."

The Red Sox played without starters Jacoby Ellsbury (right wrist) and Manny Ramirez (right hamstring), who were injured in Thursday's series finale against the Tampa Bay Rays. Both are day-to-day.

Seattle jumped on Colon in the first inning, scoring two unearned runs and giving the Mariners the lead for good when the hefty righthander threw the ball into center field while attempting to force a runner at second base.

"Big momentum-shifter in the first inning, getting a ground ball that ends up in center field," Francona said. "And then instead of being out of the inning, all of sudden we're down a couple. It wasn't the cleanest game we've played in a while."

The Mariners added a third unearned run in the third when Mike Lowell's errant throw on Ichiro Suzuki's grounder could not be handled by Kevin Youkilis at first. That was followed by a bad pickoff throw by Colon at second base that allowed another run to score.

"It is strange for me to make not only the errors but that many in one game," Colon said through a translator. "However, it's part of the game. You move on and hopefully the next game it doesn't happen."

Colon, in absorbing his first loss since being activated by the Red Sox, allowed eight hits and six runs - three earned - over five innings. He walked one and struck out two.

The Mariners added two more runs in the fourth, one in the fifth and two in the seventh.