Game 117 - Red Sox 6, Mariners 4

The Red Sox survived a couple of shaky innings in the early going from starting pitcher John Lackey to grab a 6-4 win in the opener of a 3-game weekend series against the Mariners.

Seattle jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st inning loading the bases on a leadoff double to Ichiro Suzuki, followed by an infield single by Franklin Gutierrez, a walk to Dustin Ackley, and a 2-RBI single by Mike Carp. Boston answered back in the top of the 2nd on a lead-off home run by David Ortiz (his 24th of the year) and a sacrifice fly by Mike Aviles.

Seattle scored single runs in the 2nd and 4th innings before the Red Sox offense came alive with home runs by Jed Lowrie (4) leading off the top of the 5th and Josh Reddick's (6) 2-run shot in the 6th. David Ortiz drove in the final Red Sox run in the 7th with an RBI single to left.

John Lackey lasted 6 innings in winning 6 of his last 7 starts and 11th of the season. He struck out 3 and walked 2.


NOTES -

The win was the 32nd come-from-behind victory of the season for the Red Sox.

How's your back? Kevin Youkilis and Marco Scutaro were scratched from the original lineup with back issues.

Celtics legend Bill Russell visited with Terry Francona, Dustin Pedroia and Darnell McDonald in the Red Sox dugout prior to the game.

The home run by Ortiz in the 2nd inning was his 4th in the last 9 games.

You can do a lot with numbers, and John Lackey can be frustrating to watch sometimes, but know that in his last 7 starts, he is 6-0 with a 3.92 ERA.