BOSTON – The young Seattle Mariners played another patience-bending game Monday, the kind where hitters didn’t hit and the team didn’t score enough runs to win.

Jason Vargas couldn’t keep the Red Sox off that famed Green Monster in left field and Bellarmine Prep grad Jon Lester threw a complete-game in Boston’s 6-1 victory.

“You come to the plate, you can’t help seeing that left-field wall, it looks right there,” Dustin Ackley said. “I think their players adt to it. Right-handers pull the ball, lefties stay on it and go the other way.

“You can’t do that as a visiting player, you can’t change your swing for two games. I’ve only played here maybe six games, but that team has never failed to hit that wall in those games.”

In the end, Boston had nine hits Monday, the Mariners eight.

“Vargas wasn’t quite as sharp as he’s been, he left a couple of pitches up,” manager Eric Wedge said. “We had hits, we hit some balls hard, had some great at-bats – we just didn’t do any damage.

“Their offense was just the opposite.”

One out into the first inning, Dustin Pedroia walked and David Ortiz popped a fly ball off the Green Monster for an RBI double. In Safeco Field, it wouldn’t have reached the warning track.

Adrian Gonzalez hit an opposite-field ground double to left and it was 2-0.

“The doubles were what they were,” Vargas said. “You’ve got to play the dimensions of the park you’re in.”

Boston used the ballpark’s unique layout again in the fourth inning, with home runs to left field by Daniel Nava and Kelly Shoppach giving the Red Sox a 5-0 lead.

Green Monster specials?

“The home runs were not che,” Vargas said. “I should have done a better job of keeping us in the game. I didn’t.”

Against Lester, a left-hander whose earned-run average coming in was 4.29, the Seattle offense had trouble getting started. Lester retired the side in order the first three innings, then gave up a two-out infield single in the fourth to Ichiro Suzuki.

That was the Mariners’ first baserunner.

“The first two or three innings, he got into a zone and I think it carried over for him all night,” said Ackley, whose sixth-inning single extended his hitting streak to 10 games. “He had a great cutter, a great curveball.

“The only time he got in trouble was when he fell behind in the count and had to throw a fastball. He didn’t pitch to that ERA.”

No, and by night’s end, Lester had a 2-3 record with a 3.71 ERA. He threw 14 or fewer pitches in each of the first three innings. Lester finished with 119 pitches.

“When you get the batters making early contact and fly balls guy after guy, it helps,” Lester said.

Seattle banged out three hits in the seventh inning and not only didn’t score, they couldn’t keep all those men on base.

Jesus Montero and Justin Smoak singled to open the inning, but Kyle Seager lined out to second base, and Montero was caught way off the bag for a double play.

Alex Liddi singled, but Michael Saunders popped out.

After Lester got the Mariners in order in the eighth inning, it looked like he’d become the fifth pitcher this season to shut out Seattle.

Ichiro singled and took third base on Smoak’s one-out double. Seager, the team RBI leader, drove home his 21st run with a ground ball to second base.

And that was the Mariners’ scoring for the night.

“He had great stuff and pitched his best when he was in trouble,” Ackley said.

Wedge tried to explain his team. Again.

“To a man, everyone in our lineup is working on something at the plate,” Wedge said. “You watch Smoak, Saunders, Seager, they all had better at-bats tonight.

“The fundamentals are mostly there. It’s the mindset that a hitter has to have up there – that’s got a ways to go.”

Smoak had two hits and inched his average to .214. Saunders had one and is at .223.

That’s better but not nearly enough, and couple those averages with those of Casper Wells (.216) and Brendan Ryan (.140) and the Mariners have holes in their lineup they can’t hide.

Ackley’s 10-game hitting streak has pushed his season average to … .248.

Put another way, Seager is the only Mariners player with as many as 20 RBI. The Red Sox had four in their lineup – including leadoff hitter Mike Aviles (25).

The Mariners’ team average is .235, so it’s small wonder that in the 19 games Seattle has scored three runs or fewer this season, their record is 3-16.

Wedge and his front office are holding firm to the patience-is-a-virtue philosophy, but waiting on a lineup of pups is more difficult without a few productive veterans.

Ichiro, who had his worst season in 2011, is batting .291 this season but has only 13 RBI while batting third.

Patience goes only so far. Shortstop Ryan’s job dangles by a tenuous thread and the daily lineup remains in flux. And, perhs more important to the franchise and its fans, the Mariners are 16-21.

That’s exactly their record after 37 games in 2011.

The contributed to this report.

larry.larue@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/mariners
@LarryLaRue

BOSTON — Seattle’s Dustin Ackley had never faced Jon Lester before Monday night and afterward said that the Boston Red Sox left-hander’s cutter looked identical to his fastball.

Ackley wasn’t the only Mariner who couldn’t figure out Lester.

Lester scattered eight hits without walking a batter in his second complete game of the season to lead the Red Sox to their fourth straight win, 6-1 over Seattle.

“He’s got some great pitches. His curveball’s a great pitch, too,” said Ackley, who went 1 for 4 with a single. “He gets ahead with that on guys early, and when he’s able to use the cutter, it’s a great pitch for him. When you have a pitch like that, you’re going to miss barrels a lot.”

Swing and miss the Mariners did.

Seattle didn’t manage a hit off Lester (2-3) until Ichiro Suzuki singled with two outs in the fourth inning, and they mustered merely six hits — all singles — through eight innings. Lester struck out six, including Alex Liddi to c his first nine-inning complete game since June 27, 2010. He also tossed an eight-inning complete game earlier this season in a loss at Toronto.

Lester required 119 pitches to finish off his eighth career complete game, surrendering the lone run in the ninth when Suzuki singled, moved to third on a double by Justin Smoak and scored on Kyle Seager’s groundout.

“I’ve seen him pretty good, unfortunately. But he was good tonight, too,” Mariners manager Eric Wedge said. “He’s a smart kid. As he works his way through the lineup the second and third times, he does a nice job mixing-and-matching and he did a lot of that tonight.”

Daniel Nava and Kelly Shoppach homered for Boston.

David Ortiz and Adrian Gonzalez added consecutive RBI doubles for the Red Sox, who won their fourth straight at home. Boston is on its longest home winning streak since cturing nine straight last July.

The Red Sox opened just 4-11 at Fenway Park.

The Mariners, on the second stop of a four-city, 11-game trip, have dropped four of six. Seattle entered the day with the AL’s second-worst batting average at .235.

Suzuki and Smoak each had two hits for the Mariners.

Jason Vargas (4-3) had his worst start of the season, allowing five runs and seven hits in six innings. He had allowed two runs or fewer in six of his eight starts this year.

Lester retired the first 11 batters before Suzuki reached on an infield hit when the ball caromed off the pitcher’s glove. Third baseman Will Middlebrooks had little time to make a throw when he finally recovered the ball.

Leading 2-0, the Red Sox increased their lead to 5-0 on the homers by Nava and Shoppach. Nava hit his second career home run into the first row of seats above the Green Monster after Cody Ross singled leading off the fourth. One out later, Shoppach belted one over the Monster seats, completely out of Fenway, for his first of the season.

Nava’s only other homer was a grand slam on the first pitch he saw in the big leagues, making him just the second player in major league history to accomplish the feat. Kevin Kouzmanoff was the other, doing it with Cleveland in 2006.

Marlon’s Byrd’s sacrifice fly made it 6-0 in the eighth.

Boston had grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first on doubles on consecutive pitches to Ortiz and Gonzalez.

Boston’s Dustin Pedroia went 0 for 4, snping his 14-game hitting streak.

NOTES: Nava, who spent all of 2011 at Triple-A Pawtucket, had gone 171 at-bats between homers. … Vargas hadn’t given up more than four runs in a start this season. … Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said 3B Kevin Youkilis, on the 15-day DL since ril 29 with a strained lower back, took groundballs Monday and isn’t far away from returning. … Wedge feels his struggling lineup needs a lot more help from Suzuki. “I’m hoping we can get a little more production out of the 3-spot, out of Ichiro, driving in runs,” he said. “He’s the one veteran we’ve got in the lineup and he has to produce for us.” … Wedge also said he sees improvement from 1B Smoak, who entered the game hitting .205. “He’s been better. He’s been more consistent to the point of contact.” … The Red Sox honored the 2012 NCAA Hockey champion Boston College Eagles before the game.

BOSTON — Boston Red Sox left-hander Jon Lester recorded a complete-game victory, losing his shutout in the ninth inning as Boston beat the Seattle Mariners 6-1 on Monday. Lester did not allow a hit until there were two outs in the fourth inning, when Ichiro Suzuki broke up Lester’s bid for his second career no-hitter with a comebacker that bounced off Lester’s glove for a single. “I think that’s everybody’s goal when they go out there, to throw a no-hitter, perfect game,” Lester said. “Just ended up giving up a base hit a little later than normal. I just was able to keep the ball down. It’s obviously in the back of your mind, but I don’t think it really becomes significant until the sixth, seventh inning. That’s when you’re cutting those outs down and you might have a chance.” Lester ended up allowing one run on eight hits with no walks and six strikeouts. He improved his record to 2-3 with a 3.60 ERA. “He went out and he looked like he had a mission to accomplish and he accomplished it,” said Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine. “He was throwing all of his pitches early in the game, throwing them all for strikes, had a very confident look about himself and just for you younger reporters out there, that’s called a complete game — when a starter starts and then he finishes it.” Complete games have become quite rare in this era of pitch counts. “His cutter was really good,” said the Mariners Dustin Ackley. “That thing looked like his fastball and it just breaks off at the last minute. When you have a pitch like that, you’re going to miss barrels a lot.” Sox batters got to Mariners lefty Jason Vargas early, scoring two runs in the first inning. Dustin Pedroia walked with one out, and he scored on David Ortiz’s double. Ortiz then scored on Adrian Gonzalez’s double. In the fourth inning, Daniel Nava’s first-pitch, two-run homer over the left field wall scored Cody Ross, who had singled. It was the first home run of the season for Nava, who was called up from Triple-A Pawtucket on Thursday. It was also the first home run in 171 major league at-bats. Nava hit a grand slam on the first pitch he saw in the major leagues, on June 12, 2010. He then shuttled between Boston and Pawtucket in 2010, and spent all of 2011 and the start of 2012 in Pawtucket. “I didn’t think it was gone,” Nava said. “Knowing how big the wall is and seeing some other balls guys have hit, I didn’t think it compared to Will Middlebrooks’ bomb or Kelly Shoppach. I was surprised. It barely squeaked over. But I’ll take it.” Shoppach’s first home run of the season, a solo shot over the left field wall, gave the Sox a five-run lead. Jason Vargas took the loss, falling to 4-3, with a 3.28 ERA. He went six innings, giving up five runs on seven hits and three walks with three strikeouts. “It looked like he left a changeup up and another pitch out over they put a pretty good swing on,” said Mariners manager Eric Wedge. “He didn’t quite have the command you see from him, but still pitched a pretty good ballgame. It’s just the hits they got were damage-oriented, whether it be a ball getting up on the wall or over the wall.” The Sox added another run in the eighth against Mariners reliever Sean Kelly when Marlon Byrd hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to score Middlebrooks. The Mariners scored their lone run when Kyle Seager’s groundout scored Suzuki, who singled and took third on Justin Smoak’s double. NOTES: With a home run and two RBI Sunday against the Indians, Red Sox third baseman Middlebrooks became the third player to accumulate at least four home runs and 13 RBI over his first 10 games in the majors…Dustin Ackley got a partial day off, serving as the designated hitter, with Kyle Seager playing second base…Mariners right-hander Blake Beavan is scheduled to start Tuesday, his first pearance since leaving his last game after three innings on May 7 against the Tigers after being hit on the right elbow by a shot off the bat of Miguel Cabrera that turned into an inning-ending double play. Beavan is 1-3 with a 4.32 ERA…Kevin Millwood induced three double-play grounders for the Mariners in their win over the Yankees on Sunday. It was the most double plays for Millwood since June 27, 2006, a span of 154 starts…Pedroia’s 14-game hitting streak was snped as he went 0-for-3 with a walk. It had been the longest active streak in the majors….The Sox have a four-game win streak in which they are outscoring opponents 29-8…The Mariners are 2-9 against the American League East this season… Suzuki’s two hits give him 2,471, tying him with Joe Medwick for 98th on the all-time hit list…Ackley has a 10-game hit streak in which he is batting .297, 11-for-37.

SEATTLE — After handing out some punishment on a few prior occasions, Seattle Mariners designated hitter John Jaso was hpy to take a beating Monday night.

Jaso hit a sacrifice fly to score pinch-runner Munenori Kawasaki and c a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 3-2 win over the Detroit Tigers.

Jaso and the Mariners won their third straight game — with a lot of help from Tigers veteran reliever Octavio Dotel.

Detroit manager Jim Leyland knew pregame that closer Jose Valverde would not be at his disposal, so he turned to Dotel with a 2-0 lead in the ninth — and he lacked any control from the start.

Dotel walked Brendan Ryan after nearly hitting him twice. A walk to Ichiro Suzuki followed, then a wild pitch, which advanced both runners. A visit from catcher Alex Avila along with a separate visit from pitching coach Jeff Jones during the inning could not settle Dotel down.

His first pitch to Jesus Montero with two runners on was again wide of Avila, which resulted in a passed ball and scored Ryan. Montero pushed the count to 3-0 before finally throwing a strike. Montero fouled off the next pitch, then doubled to deep center, the ball hitting the wall just left of the 405 marker, to drive in Suzuki and tie the game.

“You’ve got to look for the right pitch, and I think I had the right pitch,” Montero said of facing an erratic pitcher.

That was it for Dotel (1-1), who threw only four of his 16 pitches for strikes.

“Walks will kill you, and they killed us,” Leyland said.

Kyle Seager bunted Kawasaki to third, and Jaso followed with his fly to right to score Kawasaki and finish the rally.

Leyland chose to give Valverde the night off after three consecutive pearances. Leyland also decided prior to the game he would not use Joaquin Benoit.

The comeback denied Detroit starter Doug Fister his first win of the season in his second start. He was removed from his first start ril 7 after straining his left side. On Monday night, he allowed four hits, walked none and struck out three.

Seattle starter Blake Beavan left after being hit on the right elbow by a line drive in the third inning.

Beavan was in trouble in third after Austin Jackson singled and stole second. Andy Dirks moved Jackson to third with a single, bringing Miguel Cabrera to the plate. Cabrera’s strong line drive of an 0-1 pitch hit Beavan and the ball caromed to third baseman Seager, who picked it up to start what turned out to be a 1-5-4-3 inning-ending double play.

Beavan walked off the mound without wincing, but the Mariners immediately told Hisashi Iwakuma to warm-up in the bullpen. He took over in the fourth for Beavan, who was diagnosed with a right elbow contusion after throwing three innings and allowing one run. X-Rays of Beavan’s elbow were negative. He’s hopeful of making his next start and will be re-examined Tuesday morning.

Fister dominated his seven innings, retiring six in a row over the fourth and fifth. The only solid hit came from Justin Smoak, who drove a fly ball to deep center field. Fister threw less than 10 pitches in four of the first five innings.

After throwing four innings May 2 for Triple-A Toledo in his final rehabilitation start from a left costochondral strain, Fister, who the Mariners traded to Detroit last season, wasn’t on a specific pitch count. Leyland said he would “use common sense” when assessing how far into the game Fister could go. He wound up throwing 73 pitches.

Jhonny Peralta singled off Mariners reliever Shawn Kelley to open the seventh inning. Left-hander Charlie Furbush relieved Kelley with two outs in the seventh, and allowed a singled to Jackson, then walked Dirks to load the bases. Furbush won a battle with Cabrera, who grounded out to third base after a seven-pitch at-bat.

Prince Fielder reached on his second blooper of the night then scored on a broken-bat single by Brennan Boesch in the fourth inning. Iwakuma was able to strike out Ryan Raburn a pitch after Raburn pulled a line drive just foul down the left-field line.

Fielder’s first-inning bloop double down the left-field line drove in Dirks, who had doubled two batters earlier, to put Detroit ahead 1-0.

Steve Delabar (1-0) picked up the win with a scoreless ninth.

Notes: Seattle hit .322 in a three-game sweep of Detroit ril 24-26. . Monday’s visit to Seattle started Detroit’s run of 19 of the next 24 games on the road. . Detroit starter Justin Verlander, who will face Seattle on Tuesday, is 3-4 with a 4.44 ERA in his career at Safeco Field. Seattle has won Verlander’s last three starts at Safeco. … The Mariners lead the majors with the most blown leads in a loss (10).

TORONTO () The Seattle Mariners couldn’t come through in the clutch Sunday, and it cost them.

Edwin Encarnacion hit his third home run in three games, Henderson Alvarez won for the first time since August and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Mariners 7-2.

The Mariners went 0 for 14 with runners in scoring position and have not won a series north of the border since June 2008.

”We didn’t play very well all day,” Seattle manager Eric Wedge said. ”I didn’t feel like we were giving away at bats, but the end result of at bats wasn’t very good.”

Jeff Mathis added a two-run homer as Toronto broke open a close game with a five-run eighth inning.

Chone Figgins and Miguel Olivo hit solo homers for the Mariners, who lost their second straight.

Seattle put at least one runner at second or third base in each of the first, second, fourth, sixth, seven and ninth innings but failed to cash any of them in.

”We got the runners on, we just couldn’t push them across,” Figgins said.

Scoring runs wasn’t easy against Alvarez (1-2), who allowed one run and six hits in six-plus innings to win for the second time in 15 major league starts. The right-hander, whose only other victory came at Baltimore last Aug. 31, walked a career-high three and struck out one.

”We had some good hacks at him but he started changing speeds, started taking something off his fastball,” Figgins said. ”I think he saw that we were seeing his pitches and started taking a lot off his fastball.”

The Mariners jumped in front early when Figgins drilled Alvarez’s sixth pitch of the game over the wall in right, his second leadoff shot this season.

Jason Vargas (3-2) held Toronto hitless until Eric Thames’ two-out double in the fourth, an otherwise routine fly ball that dropped in front of Figgins in left.

”I broke back,” Figgins said. ”I felt bad that (Vargas) was going so good and had a no-hitter going for me to break back. (Thames) took a big swing, he was up in the count. I didn’t know he hit it off the end of the bat.”

The hit moved Encarnacion, who had walked, up to third base, but Vargas esced when Figgins caught Lawrie’s fly ball for the third out.

The Blue Jays broke through against Vargas in the fifth. Rasmus led off with a single, advanced to second on a grounder and scored on a two-out base hit to right by Kelly Johnson.

Alvarez was replaced by Evan Crawford after Munenori Kawasaki‘s leadoff single in the seventh. Figgins sacrifice Kawasaki to second but Crawford got Dustin Ackley and Ichiro Suzuki to ground out.

Encarnacion had a solo homer in Toronto’s 9-5 defeat Friday and hit his fourth career grand slam in Saturday’s 7-0 win. He went deep again in the finale, lacing a tiebreaking drive to left in the sixth off Vargas. Encarnacion’s homer was his team-leading seventh.

”Unfortunately, probably one of the only bad changeups I threw all night was to him and it was the difference in the game,” Vargas said.

Encarnacion, who walked in his first two plate pearances Sunday, was hit on the left arm by Steve Delabar in the eighth, responding with a long stare at the mound.

”I can’t say whether that pitch got away from them intentionally or what,” Blue Jays manager John Farrell said. ”But we answered the right way.”

Charlie Furbush replaced Delabar before Jose Bautista, who had led off with a single, and Encarnacion pulled off a double steal. Pinch hitter Rajai Davis was intentionally walked before Brett Lawrie hit a two-run double. One batter later, Davis scored on an errant pickoff throw by Olivo. Colby Rasmus struck out before Mathis homered into the second deck in left, his second.

Davis injured his right wrist diving back to third on Olivo’s throw and left the game. He was replaced by Ben Francisco in the ninth.

Casey Janssen worked the eighth and Francisco Cordero gave up Olivo’s second homer of the season in the ninth.

NOTES: Figgins also hit a leadoff homer in Seattle’s 4-1 win at Cleveland on ril 18. … Seattle announced that LH George Sherrill will undergo season-ending elbow surgery on May 4. Sherrill peared in two games this year. … Mariners SS Brendan Ryan, stuck in an 0 for 18 slump, was replaced in the lineup by Munenori Kawasaki. 1B Justin Smoak ( 2 for 27) also got the day off. Both are expected to start Monday at Tampa Bay.

Jason Vargas threw seven innings and the top of the order provided pop for the Seattle Mariners in a 4-1 win Wednesday night over the Cleveland Indians before the smallest crowd in the history of Safeco Field.

Brandon League pitched the bottom of the ninth for his fifth straight save. Just 11,343 watched the game, setting a new record-low at Safeco Field, which was built in 1999. The previous low was 11,701 against Baltimore on May 31, 2011.

Derek Lowe (2-1) pitched 4 1-3 innings, allowed two home runs, four earned runs and walked six _ one short of his career-high.

Chone Figgins and Ichiro Suzuki provided a brisk start for the Mariners. Figgins turned an eight-pitch at-bat into his eighth career leadoff home run and first of the season. It was Figgins’ first home run since ril 1, 2011.

Ichiro followed two batters later with his first home run of the year when he hit a drive to right-center field. That was his first home run batting third after hitting 94 batting leadoff, and one batting second, leaving him four shy of 100 career homers.

Meanwhile, Vargas zipped along. He struck out four consecutive batters, starting at the end of the third and extending through the fourth. It was part of seven consecutive retired by the left-hander.

Vargas teetered in the sixth when he loaded the bases after walking designated hitter Travis Hafner. But, he struck out Shelley Duncan with a changeup and got a groundout to shortstop from Jose Lopez.

He came back to throw a 1-2-3 seventh inning to finish a solid effort during which he allowed just four hits and a run. He struck out seven and walked three.

The Mariners tacked on a run in the bottom of the second when Jesus Montero was walked on four pitches, pushing Brendan Ryan across the plate. But Lowe was able to get Kyle Seager to fly out to left field with the bases loaded to avoid further damage.

Cleveland shortstop Jason Donald bunted Aaron Cunningham to third after Cunningham doubled to open the third inning. Jason Kipnis’ sacrifice fly to center field drove Cunningham in for Cleveland’s first run.

Dustin Ackley drove in Ryan with a single to center to expand the Mariners’ lead to 4-1. Lowe staved off a bigger inning by getting Montero to ground into a double play.

Lowe’s bumpy night ended in the fifth following a single by Miguel Olivo that put runners on first and third with one out. Lowe threw 4 ? innings, allowed two home runs, four earned runs and walked six, just one short of his career-high. It was his shortest outing of the young season.

Jairo Asencio replaced Lowe and held off the Mariners in the fifth by getting Munenori Kawasaki to pop out and Brendan Ryan to ground out on a close play at first.

Ackley played first base for the first time in his Major League career. Regular first baseman Justin Smoak sat out Wednesday because of tightness in his right hamstring. He’s day-to-day after first feeling the tightness last Saturday.

NOTES: Cleveland starter Jeanmar Gomez was suspended five games Wednesday for throwing at Kansas City’s Mike Moustakas last weekend. Gomez will peal and make his normal turn in the rotation Saturday at Oakland. . Cleveland manager Manny Acta and third baseman Jack Hannahan were also fined. . Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager came into Wednesday 14 for 22 (.636) against Cleveland in his career. . Tuesday night’s rally from seven down was Cleveland’s largest comeback since an 11-10 win May 25, 2009 vs. Tampa Bay when the Indians entered the bottom of the fourth trailing 10-0. . Mariners catcher Adam Moore tore the medial meniscus in his right knee while playing for Triple-A Tacoma. He will have surgery Thursday.