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 Apparently, his fatigue wasn't a problem.
Bradley hit a tiebreaking home run, Shane Victorino slugged the last of Boston's five long balls and the Red Sox snapped a three-game skid with an 11-8 win over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.
"I'm tired. I'm going to crash out early tonight and try to get some rest. But it's great," Bradley said. "I had to dig a little deep. You always get a little adrenaline when you're out there and having fun."
Boston rallied from an early 5-1 deficit, using two-run homers from Dustin Pedroia and Mike Napoli along with Bradley's solo shot to come back against the Mariners. Pedroia and Napoli homered in the third inning and Bradley gave Boston the lead in the fifth. Victorino's drive was part of a three-run eighth.
David Ortiz had four hits -- including a solo home run in the second off struggling Seattle starter Hisashi Iwakuma
-- to give him 1,688 hits as a designated hitter, tying Harold Baines for the career record. Ortiz doubled twice and singled in the eighth.
"It means I'm getting old, man. You've got to play for a while to put numbers together," Ortiz said. "But I'm really thankful. I'm really glad to be able to come through for the ballclub."
Boston avoided its first four-game skid of the season thanks to a bullpen that finally stymied the Mariners.
Seattle was potent early, with Kendrys Morales hitting two homers, but couldn't solve the Red Sox bullpen. Alfredo Aceves, Craig Breslow and Andrew Bailey kept the Mariners scoreless for 4 2-3 innings after starter Allen Webster was tagged for seven earned runs in 2 1-3 innings.
Seattle got a run off Junichi Tazawa in the eighth, but Koji Uehara pitched the ninth for his sixth save. Breslow (3-2) got the victory after throwing 2 1-3 innings.
"Those four innings in the middle of the game were the key to stabilizing it for us," Boston manager John Farrell said. "We fell behind early, our offense bails us out through the course of the night."
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Seattle took a 5-1 lead in the second when rookie Brad Miller lined a three-run double into the right-field corner, but the lead was gone by the time the Mariners got back to the plate. Boston sent up nine batters and scored five times in the third, highlighted by two-run homers from Pedroia and Napoli, sandwiched around a double from Ortiz that missed clearing the fence by only a couple of feet.
Pedroia added an RBI single in the fourth and Bradley gave the Red Sox the lead in the fifth when he hit a hanging curveball from Blake Beavan (0-2) to right-center for his second homer. Bradley was recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket earlier in the day to help provide depth in the outfield with Jacoby Ellsbury (wrist) and Victorino (hamstring) nursing nagging injuries.
Farrell also made sure to point out Ortiz's stolen base in the eighth inning. His third steal of the season helped the Red Sox tack on two more runs on RBI singles by Jose Iglesias and Brock Holt.
"The crowd is laughing about it because you're typically not going to see it, but it really set things up," Farrell said.
Morales' two-run shot in the first was thanks to the hustle of Raul Ibanez beating out a potential double play and extending the inning. Morales added a solo homer on the first pitch of the third inning and Seattle got an RBI triple from Michael Saunders, but the Mariners left runners at the corners in the fourth and never threatened again until the eighth.
Iwakuma lasted just three innings, the shortest start of his career, continuing a recent stretch of rough starts for the first-time All-Star. In his first 14 starts, Iwakuma was 7-1 with a 1.79 ERA, allowing 10 home runs and 22 earned runs. In his last five starts his ERA has ballooned to 6.83. He has given up 10 homers and 22 earned runs during the winless span.
"I think my pitches are catching too much of the plate the last couple of starts," Iwakuma said through a translator. "I need to work on that. We have some time to make adjustments and that's what I need to do."
NOTES: Boston hit five homers in a game for the second time this season. The Red Sox season high is six against Toronto on April 7. ... Seattle scored in the final five innings on Monday and first three innings on Tuesday. The eight straight innings with a run set a club record. ... The Red Sox placed reliever Alex Wilson on the 15-day DL with a thumb injury. He returned to Boston for further examination.
[Associated
Press; By TIM BOOTH]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
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