Red Sox go quietly again in falling to Mariners

From the first day of spring training, the Red Sox figured they’d score enough runs in 2016 to wish they could stash a few away for next year.
Offense wasn’t supposed to be a problem.
Until the beginning of a gruelling 11-game road trip last Thursday, it hadn’t been.
Playing without Hanley Ramirez, who injured his wrist slipping down the dugout steps, and Dustin Pedroia, who received a routine day off, the Red Sox bats went quiet in a 3-1 loss to the Mariners last night.
“It’s one of those nights where we flat out got out-played,” said starting pitcher Rick Porcello, who threw a complete game and took the loss.
The Sox collected just seven hits, all singles, without drawing a walk in a light-hitting performance that continued what has been a dormant streak from a club that was once scoring six runs per game.
With seven games in the books on this road trip, the Sox are averaging half that, scoring 21 runs in total.
Mariners right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma lasted 7- 1/3 innings and struck out seven. Opposing starters have thrown 44- 1/3  innings with a 2.34 ERA against the Red Sox on this road trip.
“We’re in a funk right now,” said David Ortiz, who went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and is 3-for-22 on the trip. “Anything is good against us right now. The guy last night (Wade LeBlanc), the guy today, nothing crazy.”
It’ll go down as a week full of missed opportunities after the Red Sox pitching staff has posted a 2.88 ERA.
Last night they blew a chance to capitalize on Porcello’s second consecutive complete game. So far on this trip, Price has pitched into the eighth inning twice, Porcello has thrown two strong starts (nine innings, two runs against the Angels) and 23-year-old lefty Eduardo Rodriguez (6- 1/3 innings, one run) pitched his best game of the season.
But the Red Sox have lost four out of seven.
“I think we’ve thrown the ball much better,” Porcello said. “The biggest thing is we’re a lot more consistent. And we need to continue to do that. I like where we’re at as a starting rotation.”
Porcello allowed just four hits in eight innings of work last night. The bad news: Three of the hits left the yard.
After striking out Robinson Cano swinging on an inside pitch that made the All-Star second baseman twirl around in a full circle before walking to the dugout, Porcello served up a bomb to Nelson Cruz on a sinker that caught too much of the plate.
It was another sinker that cost Porcello in the sixth, when the Mariners power-hitting catcher Mike Zunino hammered a low one over the center-field wall. The pitch looked to be below the strike zone, but Zunino got all of it.
Adam Lind cracked a changeup to right field for another homer in the seventh.
“It was a misfire to Cruz, he does what he does with that,” Porcello said. “And then the other two were just, I tip my cap to them. The fastball to Zunino was supposed to be down in and in. It was a little bit below the knees, middle, he put a really good swing on it. And then a 2-0 changeup to Lind, really just trying to stay away from damage against him. He’s hit me well in the past. And he took me out on that.”
On the broadcast, manager John Farrell could be seen talking to Porcello afterward, perhaps giving him news that his day was done after 103 pitches, but Porcello barked back at the manager and eventually would jog out to start the eighth inning.
“I felt good,” Porcello said when asked about the incident. “I wanted to go back out there and get us back in the dugout to hit.”
He finished the eighth inning on nine pitches and ended up striking out eight.
The Red Sox finally scored in the ninth, when Travis Shaw grounded out with runners on second and third. Sandy Leon then grounded out to second to end the game.
“The timely hit has not been there,” Farrell said.

RESULTS
Chicago Cubs 5 Miami 4
San Diego 12 Milwaukee 3
Washington 8 Arizona 3
NY Yankees 9 NY Mets 5
Philadelphia 5 San Francisco 4
Baltimore 3 Texas 2
Detroit 2 Chicago White Sox 1
Tampa Bay 12 Kansas City 0
Minnesota 13 Cleveland 5
Atlanta 8 Pittsburgh 4
St. Louis 5 Cincinnati 4
Toronto 3 Houston 1
Colorado 12 LA Dodgers 2
LA Angels 8 Oakland 6
Seattle 3 Boston 1