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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
SEATTLE (AP) -- Al Martin is supposed to get to Safeco Field on
Tuesday night. The Seattle Mariners could have used his bat in the
series opener against the Boston Red Sox on Monday.
|  | | Jason Varitek now has four homers in 31 at-bats at Safeco Field, including a key three-run homer Monday.
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Boston's bullpen pitched eight scoreless innings after Jay
Buhner's grand slam in the first inning and the Red Sox came back
to beat the Mariners 8-5.
The Mariners, who acquired Martin in a trade with San Diego on
Monday, managed three hits off Ramon Martinez, Bryce Florie, Rod
Beck, Rich Garces and Hipolito Pichardo.
Rickey Henderson had two singles.
"We're the ones to blame, the hitters," Alex Rodriguez said.
"We need to start swinging the bats better."
The Mariners lost their lead in the eighth when the Red Sox
scored four times, three on a home run by former Seattle farmhand
Jason Varitek.
The Red Sox catcher was embarrassed when the Mariners stole five
bases, three by Henderson, in the first two innings.
"I thought Rickey was out on the first one," said Varitek, who
threw out Mike Cameron in the sixth.
Trailing 5-4, the Red Sox got singles from Scott Hatteberg and
Mike Lansing off Jose Mesa (3-6) to put runners at the corners with
two outs. Closer Kazuhiro Sasaki came in and allowed a run-scoring to Trot Nixon.
Varitek, the Mariners' top draft choice in 1994 who was traded
to the Red Sox in 1997, followed with a drive into the right-field
bleachers for his eighth homer. It was Sasaki's third blown save in
28 opportunities and first since June 14, a stretch of 15
consecutive successful saves.
Right fielder Buhner went back to the fence, then watched it
sail over his head into the third row of seats.
"I was just hoping it was high enough that Jay couldn't catch
it," Varitek said.
Garces (6-0) pitched a scoreless seventh for the victory to
improve to 11-1 with the Red Sox over the last two seasons.
Pichardo, who struck out in the ninth, pitched two innings for his
first save.
Boston manager Jimy Williams let Pichardo bat for the fifth time
in his major league career and first time since 1998 because he was
saving closer Derek Lowe for Tuesday and Wednesday.
Buhner and Henderson might have been motivated by general
manager Pat Gillick's trade for Martin, primarily a left fielder and a .282 career hitter. They're the two Mariners who will lose the most
playing time because of the trade.
Buhner's ninth career slam came after Martinez walked Henderson,
Rodriguez and Edgar Martinez.
The Red Sox came back in the second for three runs off Paul
Abbott on Nomar Garciaparra's 16th homer, an error by third baseman
David Bell and a sacrifice fly by Lansing.
The Mariners made it 5-3 in the bottom of the inning on
Rodriguez's run-scoring groundout. In the sixth, Lansing had an RBI
single.
Game notes
Varitek has four home runs in 31 at bats at Safeco Field.
... Garciaparra was 2-for-4 and raised his major league-leading
batting average to .394. ... When Henderson walked in the first
inning, it was his sixth consecutive base on balls, one shy of the
major league record held by four players. Henderson's 2,033 career
walks are second to Babe Ruth's 2,062. ... The crowd Monday night of
36,993 gave the Mariners 2,026,071 fans in their 54th home game. In
1997, they got 2 million fans into the Kingdome in their 52nd home
game.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Boston Clubhouse
Seattle Clubhouse
RECAPS
Baltimore 6
Minnesota 5
Anaheim 5
Detroit 4
Oakland 6
Toronto 1
Boston 8
Seattle 5
Houston 4
Florida 2
St. Louis 4
Montreal 0
Los Angeles 0
Pittsburgh 0
Cincinnati 6
NY Mets 0
Chicago Cubs 2
Colorado 0
San Francisco 4
Milwaukee 3
San Diego 4
Philadelphia 1
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