Sale brings the heat to sink Mariners

Chris Sale wasn’t about to slow down the way he was pitching on Sunday.

Sale struck out 13 over seven dazzling innings, Mitch Moreland hit a two-run homer and the Boston Red Sox won the weekend and season series over the Seattle Mariners with a 5-0 victory.

“You try to find a good rhythm and tempo, find a groove and keep it going,” the six-foot-six lefthander said after posting his first scoreless outing since going six shutout innings in his initial start of the season.

He even had a solution when the Mariners’ hitters started stepping out of the batter’s box while attempting to disrupt his rhythm. “Keep throwing strikes,” he said. “Try to not let what’s going on outside the zone affect you.”

Sale (7-4) gave up four hits, walked one and ended his day by striking out Mike Zunino swinging on a 100-m.p.h. fastball. Joe Kelly and Matt Barnes each pitched an inning to complete the four-hit shutout that only took two hours 29 minutes.

Mostly mixing an overpowering fastball in the mid- to upper90s with a sharp-breaking slider in the low 80s, the lanky Sale was dominant.

He struck out 10 of the first 16 batters he faced, including the side in order in the fifth, the last two swinging on 99-m.p.h. fastballs.

The Mariners have lost six of seven games and fell to 1-5 on their 10-game East Coast trip.

“Chris Sale was on top of his game, no doubt, and he had really good stuff today,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “When he’s got the off-speed pitches and his slider is really a dominant pitch for him ... he is just very tough to beat.”

Marco Gonzales (7-5) gave up five runs on seven hits over six innings, striking out six without a walk.