Seattle Mariners sweep Boston Red Sox at Fenway
By Cory Buck
Don’t look now, but the Seattle Mariners are making a late charge at the AL wild card spot, just one season after the team finished with one of the worst records in baseball. Thanks to a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, the team doesn’t appear to be slowing down in that pursuit.
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The Mariners beat the Red Sox 8-6 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep of Boston, thanks to the bat of Dustin Ackley and the arms of a bullpen that’s proven to be the team’s strength in 2014. After each team scored three runs in the first inning, and the Mariners trailed 5-3 after three innings, the bullpen combined to allow just one run the rest of the way in victory.
Ackley potted a single, a double, and a triple for the Mariners in the team’s victory, which pushed them to a 71-58 record, including an impressive road record of 37-26.
How did the team feel after earning a sweep thousands of miles from home on a balmy Sunday? “Probably the best word I can probably think of is very draining,” Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon said. Draining, perhaps, but also likely satisfying. For now anyways, the Mariners stand firmly in the second AL wild card spot and in position to put the last few disastrous seasons behind them.