Mariners Break the Code at Fenway
The Seattle Mariners walked into Fenway Park as the worst offense in baseball. They had scored just four runs in their last four games. Then they turned the lights on and scored 17 runs in two nights. On Tuesday, they crushed the Red Sox with a 9-6 win. The main target was rookie right-hander Jedixson Paez. He made his first big-league start and gave up eight runs on 10 hits in just 3 2/3 innings.
This wasn’t a fluke. The Mariners were struggling badly before this series. Now they are swinging with real power. Interim manager Chad Tracy admitted the rookie had a rough night. “He struggled,” Tracy said. Perhaps I struggled to locate many fastballs within the strike zone. Watching those at-bats develop, I believe significant harm came from soft pitches.
Paez was called up because the team wanted to rest Sonny Gray. Gray had been dominating all season, so the Red Sox pushed his next start to Saturday. Tracy said the move was about Gray’s health, not just a plan to save him. “I wouldn’t call it prioritizing rest (for Gray), I think it was necessary,” Tracy said. He added that the team had been talking about it for a while to keep Gray physically sound.
A Rocky Road for the Rookie
Paez’s path to this start was wild and confusing. He signed with the Red Sox in 2021 but got picked by the Chicago White Sox in the Rule 5 draft this winter. He pitched three games for Chicago in April, gave up six runs, and got sent back to Boston. He spent most of the year at Double-A before getting a late promotion to Triple-A. His stats there were good, with a low walk rate and high strikeout numbers, but this big-league debut was a shock.
The Mariners capitalized on every mistake. Lazaro Montes made his debut with a home run and two RBIs. Randy Arozarena hit a three-run shot, and Dominic Canzone added another homer. The Red Sox tried to fight back late. Mickey Gasper hit a solo homer, and Jahmai Jones hit a two-run homer in the ninth. But the 9-1 hole was too deep to climb out of.
Jahmai Jones, who came in as a pinch hitter, said they were happy to force the Mariners to use their closer. “You’re trying to get traffic on and trying to do everything you can to try to get Muñoz into the game because that helps us out in the series,” Jones said. Although we lost that game, facing their closer on consecutive days raises doubts about tomorrow.
The Real Cost of Resting a Star
Here is the hard truth: resting a pitcher is a gamble, and Boston lost this one. You can argue that Sonny Gray needs rest, but you cannot argue that letting a rookie get shelled like that is worth it. The Red Sox had a clear plan to get Gray some time off. They just picked the wrong guy to fill the hole. Paez has good stuff on paper, but he was not ready for this fire.
Tracy didn’t second-guess the decision publicly, even though it blew up in their faces. He stood by the need for Gray to stay healthy. “Wasn’t just like, hey, ‘Let’s do this,’ like it was necessary,” Tracy said. “It was a conversation that happened a while ago, and then as he had the last couple outings, we continued to talk.” He insisted it was the right call for Gray’s body, even if the result was ugly.
The Red Sox offense did show some life. Gasper has seven homers in his last 13 games. That is good news for a team that needs scoring. But one good hitter cannot fix a rotation that gets blown out by a team that was scoring one run a game a week ago.
The series is not over yet. The Red Sox have to play one more game to close it out. They will face Mariners starter Bryce Miller, who has a 4.12 ERA. Boston will send lefty Patrick Sandoval to the mound. Sandoval has a 1-3 record and a 4.20 ERA this season. It is a must-win game to salvage any pride from this series.
The Red Sox have 24 games left in the regular season. They need to find a way to stop the bleeding. If they let a rookie get crushed by a bad offense, they have serious problems. The Mariners are dangerous now, and they proved it at Fenway. Boston needs to figure out who can step up when the stars need a break.
