July 11, 2013: Jacoby Ellsbury hits first of three leadoff home runs during Boston’s championship season

The Boston Red Sox concluded their only visit to Seattle during 2013, a four-game series at Safeco Field, on Thursday afternoon, July 11. On the second stop of a three-city West Coast trip heading into the All-Star break, Boston had lost 11-4 to the Mariners on July 8, but then scored 11 runs themselves in both the second and third games of the series, winning 11-8 and 11-4. The Red Sox were in first place in the American League East, 3½ games ahead of the second-place Tampa Bay Rays. The Mariners were fourth in the AL West, 13½ games behind the Oakland A’s.

The starting pitchers for the series finale were two right-handers, Erasmo Ramirez for Seattle and Ryan Dempster for Boston, but the game was eventually decided by the teams’ bullpens.

The 23-year-old Ramirez was making the first appearance of his second season in the majors. In 2012 he had been 1-3 (3.36 ERA) in 16 games, including eight starts. Ramirez had been expected to join the rotation in 2013 but had been held back by an arm injury or injuries variously reported in the Seattle Times as a biceps, a triceps, and an elbow injury.1 Another Seattle newspaper, the Post-Intelligencer, reported a triceps injury and elbow soreness.2 The team was hoping he could overcome his difficulties to become a full-time starter.3

At age 36, Dempster was in his 16th major-league season, all of which had been in the National League until a July 2012 trade sent him from the Chicago Cubs to the Texas Rangers. The Red Sox had signed Dempster as a free agent during the 2012-13 offseason. He entered 2013 with a career record of 124-124 and was 5-8 with a 4.04 ERA through 18 starts with Boston.4

Jacoby Ellsbury, in his seventh season with the Red Sox, was riding an 18-game hitting streak dating back to June 19, including three hits in the previous night’s game.

Leading off against Ramirez, he swung at a 1-and-1 pitch from Ramirez and hit a solid home run that landed some 12 or 13 rows deep in the seats in straightaway right field. The Red Sox were on the board, 1-0. For Ellsbury, the homer was the first of three leadoff home runs he hit in 2013.5    

Ramirez retired six of the next seven batters he faced, the only Red Sox batter to reach base being first baseman Mike Carp, who walked in the top of the second.

The Mariners managed just a single by left fielder Raul Ibanez in the first, but got their own leadoff home run in the second inning, hit down the line in right field by third baseman Kyle Seager.

That tied the score, but the Mariners weren’t through. After Jonny Gomes crashed into the left-field wall to rob first baseman Justin Smoak of extra bases, rookie catcher Mike Zunino singled into left field and took second on a two-out wild pitch.

It looked as though Dempster was going to get out of the inning when shortstop Brendan Ryan grounded to third, but Brock Holt misplayed the ball for an error, and Seattle capitalized for three unearned runs. Second baseman Brad Miller hit a ground-rule double to center field, scoring Zunino. Right fielder Endy Chavez singled to right, driving in Ryan and Miller for a 4-1 lead.

The Mariners added another run in the third inning. Dempster recorded two quick outs, but a two-out walk and a hit batsman put Smoak on second, and Michael Saunders singled him home. For the second time in three games, the Red Sox had an early four-run deficit; Seattle had jumped to a 5-1 advantage in the second inning on July 9 before Boston rallied to win.

This time, the Red Sox began their comeback in the fourth. After walking David Ortiz, Ramirez struck out Gomes. He hit Carp with a pitch, then struck out catcher Ryan Lavarnway. Three consecutive two-out singles to right field scored three runs, one single each by Holt, Jose Iglesias, and Ellsbury, and made it a 4-4 game.

The Mariners responded with two runs in the bottom of the fourth on singles by Miller, Chavez, and – after Dempster struck out Ibanez – an RBI single by Kendrys Morales, which made it 6-4.

Dempster had given the Red Sox at least six innings in seven of his last eight starts, but he was up to 91 pitches in 3⅓ innings, with six runs in and two runners on base. Red Sox manager John Farrell called on Steven Wright to relieve. Seager singled off Wright to make it 7-4, but the 28-year-old knuckleballer, appearing in only his second major-league game, worked his way out of the inning without any more runs.

The Red Sox pulled even with three runs in the top of the fifth. The first three men got on – a single by Dustin Pedroia, a walk to Ortiz, and a single to left by Gomes, loading the bases. Carp hit a sacrifice fly to left for the first run. After another out, manager Eric Wedge had Charlie Furbush take over on the mound for the Mariners.6

Two more two-out RBI singles followed. Holt singled to center, driving in Ortiz. Iglesias singled to center too, driving in Gomes with the tying run.

Two days earlier, in the second game of the series, five Boston relievers held Seattle to one run over the game’s final 6⅔ innings. Once again, the Red Sox bullpen contributed another outstanding performance. Wright, who had been thought about to join the rotation, threw 5⅔ scoreless innings of long relief. From the fifth inning through the ninth, the only Mariner to reach scoring position was when Ortiz missed Saunders’ two-out grounder in the seventh for a two-base error, but Wright retired Ryan on a grounder to preserve the tie.

Seattle’s bullpen likewise slowed down Boston’s bats. Furbush, after the two inherited runners scored in the fifth, threw a scoreless sixth and seventh. Oliver Perez succeeded him and threw a scoreless eighth and ninth, Tom Wilhelmsen striking out Shane Victorino for the final out in the top of the ninth.

The game moved to extra innings. Lavarnway led off the 10th against Wilhelmsen by working a 10-pitch at-bat into a base on balls. Jackie Bradley Jr. entered as a pinch-runner. Holt sacrificed Bradley to second.

Iglesias struck out, bringing up Ellsbury, who had battered the Mariners for five hits in two games. Wedge called for an intentional walk, and Daniel Nava batted with two on and two out.

Nava had started the game playing right field, moving to first base for the ninth with Victorino coming in to play right. Nava came through with a single up the middle, giving the Red Sox their sixth two-out RBI single of the game and an 8-7 lead.

Koji Uehara came in to try to close out the game. He succeeded. Saunders popped up foul to third base. Jason Bay, an AL All-Star and Silver Slugger Award winner with the Red Sox in 2009, now winding down his career in Seattle, pinch-hit for Ryan and struck out. Miller struck out to end the game. The Red Sox had another comeback win at Safeco Field, giving them three wins in four games and maintaining a 3½-game lead over Tampa Bay.

Nava was hitting .293, with 52 RBIs, ranking him fourth on the Red Sox. “He’s been in the mix of everything,” said Farrell. “He’s grown in confidence, and you never see him give an at-bat away.”7

It was Wright’s first major-league victory, in his seventh season of professional baseball after the Cleveland Indians selected him in the second round of the June 2006 draft from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Wright pitched for the Red Sox into the 2019 season, with an overall record of 24-16 (3.86). He was 13-6 and an All-Star in 2016. The Red Sox were his only major-league team. He did not see any postseason action with them.         

Ellsbury was 2-for-4 in the game, but held hitless the next night in Oakland, ending his hitting streak. He finished the 2013 season batting .298 for the Red Sox.8

The day wasn’t a total loss for the Mariners, however. For those who didn’t eschew pork, there was a feast awaiting them. Kendrys Morales had roasted an entire pig in the parking lot, starting well before game time. Afterward the team enjoyed a Cuban barbecue with tacos, beans, and rice. Mariners team chef Jeremy Bryant said, “Norm Charlton, he brought in pheasants one time, and we have had a guy who brought in an elk or two from the offseason. But never a whole pig.”9

The Red Sox next faced Seattle in Boston on July 30 and swept a three-game series, winning both the July 31 and August 1 games on walk-offs, the July 31 game in 15 innings, and the August 1 game thanks to six runs in the bottom of the ninth.

Acknowledgments

This game was fact-checked by Ray Danner and copy edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and highlights of the game on YouTube.com. Thanks to Tim Herlich for access to Seattle newspapers.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SEA/SEA201307110.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2013/B07110SEA2013.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLaTOXUihNg

Notes

1 For biceps, see Larry Stone, “Current Giddiness Great, and It Could Continue,” Seattle Times, May 19, 2013: C1. For triceps, see Geoff Baker, “Ramirez Likely to Take Bonderman’s Place,” Seattle Times, July 9, 2013: C3. For elbow injury, see Larry Stone, “Mariners Are in a Bind That Firings Won’t Cure, Without Change at the Top,” Seattle Times, June 3, 3013: Blogs.

2 Nick Eaton, “Mariners Designate Pitcher Jeremy Bonderman, Call Up Lucas Luetge,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 8, 2013: Seattle Mariners blog.

3 Through 2022, Ramirez appeared in 276 major-league games in 11 seasons, including 68 games in two stints with the Mariners and one game with the 2019 Red Sox.

4 Dempster finished the 2013 season, his final major-league campaign, with an 8-9 record, leaving him at 132-133 for his career.

5 The second one came just nine days later, at Fenway Park in Boston against the New York Yankees’ Andy Pettitte. The third was on September 29 in Baltimore off Chris Tillman. The Red Sox had one other leadoff homer in 2013, hit by Dustin Pedroia on September 17 in Baltimore off Scott Feldman.

6 Ramirez was optioned to short-season Single-A ball with the Everett Aquasox, but as the Post-Intelligencer explained, “That may sound like a huge demotion, from the majors down to the lowest minor-league levels, but there’s a different reason: The Aquasox keep playing through the All-Star break.” Nick Eaton, “Big Mariners Pitching Switcharoo as Two Are Demoted, Two Are Promoted,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 12, 2013: Seattle Mariners blog.

7 Peter Abraham, “Nava, Sox Continue to Shine,” Boston Globe, July 12, 2013: C1.

8 Ellsbury hit .297 in his years with the Red Sox, but left for the New York Yankees as a free agent after signing a seven-year, $153 million megadeal in December. His four years with the Yankees were much less productive: He batted .264 and averaged just under 50 RBIs per season. Injuries prevented him from playing after 2017.  

9 Nick Eaton, “Kendrys Morales Slow-Roasted a Whole Pig During Thursday’s Mariners Game,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 11, 2013: Seattle Mariners blog.