The Red Sox trail the Mariners 5-1 halfway through Sunday afternoon’s game thanks to a sloppy third frame.
The trouble all began when, after throwing two perfect innings on just 16 pitches, Wakefield allowed a walk to lead off the third. As most baserunners are wont to do against Wakefield, Casper Wells decided to try for second, and then ended up on third went Saltalamacchia’s throw skipped past second and into the outfield. One infield single later, and it was 1-0.
If the trouble had ended there it wouldn’t be any big deal, but then the umps got involved. After another single to right field, Ichiro stepped up to the plate and hit a ground ball to first. Gonzalez, seeing the potential for a double play, fired to second, where Jed Lowrie received the ball, stepped to the side, and threw to first. The relay wasn’t in time, but the real problem came when the umpire decided not to give Lowrie the neighborhood call on contact at second that every fielder has received for the last decade. With the bases now loaded, a sacrifice fly made it 2-0, and a single capped things at 3-0.
The Sox recovered a run on Jed Lowrie’s sacrifice fly in the fourth, but gave it right back in the fourth when the Mariners opened the frame with three straight singles. Finally, in the sixth, Casper Wells hit his second homer of the series to give the Mariners a 5-1 lead.
The Sox are in need of a wake-up call if they want to avoid losing their first series since they wrapped up an NL trip in Philly.