Not easy, but M's hang tough in win over Red Sox

There were 15 runs on the scoreboard by the time one of the season's uglier slugfests was done.

The Mariners had seen the opposing starter throw 41 pitches in the first inning alone. Their own starting pitcher had blown two leads and was run out by the sixth inning of a game that featured 26 hits, 11 walks, three hit batsmen and an uncanny 21 runners left on base.

Yet all anyone wanted to talk about after Seattle's 8-7 win over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night was the outstanding pitching they had just witnessed. That's because the Mariners bullpen tandem of J.J. Putz and George Sherrill had once again taken the Safeco Field fans on a late-inning thrill ride that ended with thousands of fingernails gnawed to the bone.

"A win's a win," Putz said. "And today, the guys never gave up. They kept battling."

But the reason the battle wasn't lost came down to a huge Sherrill strikeout of David Ortiz with runners at the corners and none out in the eighth with Seattle clinging to a two-run lead. Putz notched two key outs after that, yielding only a sacrifice fly to bring in one meaningless run, then completed another multi-inning save by striking out the side in the ninth.

The crowd of 35,045 was on its feet as the final of those batters, pinch-hitter Manny Ramirez, swung and missed at an 0-2 fastball.

"It's never a pleasant night to look in the on-deck circle and see him just sitting there waiting for you," Putz said of Ramirez, the lethal Boston slugger who had been given a night off in light of a recent slump. "I was able to get ahead of him and get him to chase some pitches. But yeah, it's exciting."

It was the 22nd save in as many tries for Putz and the kind of performance that gets closers named to All-Star teams. Hargrove said afterward that as good a closer as Jose Mesa was for his playoff teams in Cleveland a decade ago, he feels Putz is superior.

Whether the Mariners have the stuff to get to the postseason like those Indians clubs did will depend largely on the ability of Seattle's late-inning crew.

Richie Sexson hit a two-run homer off Red Sox reliever Javier Lopez in the sixth inning to snap a 6-6 tie and put Seattle ahead to stay. Willie Bloomquist also went deep for the Mariners, while Eric Hinske hit a solo homer off Felix Hernandez to launch one of Boston's comebacks in the top of the sixth.

There was excitement throughout the building in a see-saw battle in which no lead seemed safe. Both teams squandered a truckload of early chances against Hernandez and Boston counterpart Kason Gabbard.

Sexson had stranded five runners by himself with a pair of early strikeouts. But he redeemed himself by tagging a Lopez pitch deep to right field after a one-out single by Jose Vidro.

"I wanted an opportunity to help out," said Sexson, who has five home runs the past nine games. "I missed a couple of opportunities earlier in the game. The game didn't start out how I wanted it to."

Nor did it begin on a positive note for Hernandez and a Mariners club looking to remain three games behind Cleveland and Detroit in the wild-card standings. The Mariners have taken a huge step by winning this series and positioning themselves for a possible sweep this afternoon, but nearly saw Hernandez run out of the stadium in the first inning.

Boston scored a run off Hernandez and had the bases loaded with nobody out. But Hernandez escaped by striking out J.D. Drew and getting Mike Lowell to ground into a double play. Gabbard needed a similar double play to survive the bottom of the inning as Seattle scored three runs on four walks, a hit batsman and a lone single.

The hit parade continued as Hernandez later coughed up a 4-1 lead, regained a 6-4 advantage in the fifth, then tossed that away in the sixth. Ortiz drove home the tying run with a jam-shot single to left after Hernandez had been lifted for southpaw reliever Eric O'Flaherty.

Ortiz would come up again in the eighth with runners at the corners with none out in an 8-6 game. Sherrill came on to face Ortiz, riding a three-hit game and generating a roar from thousands of Boston faithful in the stands.

"I just wanted to go in, get ahead of him and see if I could put him away," said Sherrill, who had limited lefty hitters to a .116 batting average. "I didn't want to leave anything over the plate where he could swing for the outfield and make it a one-run game."

Sherrill made one mistake on his second pitch, putting a fastball inside on Ortiz instead of away. But he got away with it and figures it helped keep Ortiz off balance when his ensuing 0-2 pitch, an eye-level and largely unhittable fastball, caused the Red Sox slugger to swing and miss.

Putz made no mistakes after that in recording the save and giving O'Flaherty the "vulture" win to improve to 5-0.

"That's the reason they're pitching in the late innings," Hargrove said of all the key strikeouts late. "If you can get the right matchups, they have the ability to do that."

Geoff Baker: 206-464-8286 or gbaker@seattletimes.com.