The Sox have a commanding 11-3 lead over the Seattle Mariners after six innings Sunday thanks largely to a pair of five-run innings.
It was deja vu in the fifth inning for Boston fans. The Mariners scored a pair and the Red Sox put a five-spot up on the board in the first, then after three scoreless innings for both teams, it happened all over again. The Mariners scored in the top of the fifth when Brendan Ryan doubled home Franklin Gutierrez after the Seattle center fielder walked with one out (it would have been two runs, had Wakefield not actually managed to pull off a bluff-to-third, throw-to-first pickoff of Ichiro). And then, sure enough, the Sox provided a disproportionate response.
The retaliation began with one out, as Adrian Gonzalez picked up his second hit of the game, singling to center off of Brendan Ryan's glove. Kevin Youkilis walked, and the bases were loaded when David Ortiz managed to reach first safely on an infield single when Aaron Laffey, on in relief, found third base uncovered as he stumbled towards the baseline to field the weak chopper. Carl Crawford's single down the line plated the first two runs of the frame, and Josh Reddick brought another home with an RBI double off the wall. The attack was capped off just the same as it was in the first, with Jarrod Saltalamacchia hitting a line drive to right to score the fourth and fifth runs of the inning.
The Sox would not wait for Seattle to score again to put up their eleventh run of the game, however. Dustin Pedroia led off the sixth with a double off a wall (making it 21 straight games with a hit for the second baseman) and came around to score on yet another single from Adrian Gonzalez.