SEATTLE — David Ortiz and Pablo Sandoval each homered as the Boston Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 4-2 on Saturday night.
Seattle ace Felix Hernandez (6-1) uncharacteristically struggled, losing for the first time since Sept. 23, 2014. He left after finishing the sixth inning, his second-shortest outing this season, having allowed four runs and seven hits.
Hernandez walked four and struck out five, and his three walks in the sixth inning were more than he had allowed in any of his starts this year.
Brad Miller hit two home runs for the Mariners, who lost for the third time in four games.
Rick Porcello (4-2) pitched into the seventh inning, allowing two runs on five hits with six strikeouts to earn the win.
Koji Uehara pitched a perfect ninth inning for his ninth save in 10 chances. Uehara hasn’t allowed a hit in his last eight appearances.
Miller opened the scoring with a solo home run in the first inning, and Sandoval tied it with his own homer to lead off the second.
Ortiz gave the Red Sox a 2-1 lead with a liner over the right-field wall in the third. Miller tied it again in the fifth with his fourth homer of the season.
Hernandez looked strong through five innings, despite giving up the home runs to Sandoval and Ortiz. In the sixth inning, however, he struggled. Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon visited the mound with a trainer during the first at-bat of the inning, but after a brief discussion left Hernandez in the game.
After Sandoval grounded out to lead off the inning, Hernandez walked two straight batters and gave up a run-scoring double to Blake Swihart. Another walk loaded the bases, and Brock Holt’s groundout to first drove in the second run of the inning.
Seattle missed out on a run in the fourth inning. With two outs, Dustin Ackley drove a ball deep to right-center which looked as though it would easily score Kyle Seager from first, but it bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double, and Chris Taylor then grounded out to end the inning.
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