Mariners park their offence at Fenway
Red Sox call-up Johnson tosses shutout to blank Seattle for a second game in a row in Boston
BOSTON — Brian Johnson had quite a turnaround in his second time on Fenway Park’s mound.
Johnson pitched a five-hitter in his first bigleague appearance at Fenway and the Boston Red Sox stretched their winning streak to a season-high six games with a 6-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday.
The 26-year-old left-hander became the first Red Sox pitcher to throw a shutout in his first Fenway start since Pedro Martinez on April 11, 1998. In Johnson’s first start at Fenway — his fourth as a professional — he sustained a season-ending facial fracture when he hit by a line drive while pitching for single-A Lowell in 2012.
“The last time I walked off the mound here was 2012 and I made two pitches,” Johnson said. “Today I went nine innings. Today was pretty cool.”
Johnson left triple-A for a little over a month last season to get treatment for an anxiety issue.
“Obviously with some stuff that I’ve been gone through in my career, it’s an awesome feeling” he said.
But despite the stellar outing, Johnson was optioned back to triple-A after the game.
“That’s the reality of the game,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “We had a chance to congratulate him and yet option him back to Pawtucket with David Price coming here Monday.”
Brought up from the minors for the start, Johnson (2-0) gave up five singles, struck out eight and walked none. His only previous bigleague starts were at Houston on July 21, 2015, and at Toronto on April 18 this year.
Johnson was helped by a semi-leaping catch by centre-fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. at the wall in the sixth, Bradley’s diving grab of Nelson Cruz’s sinking liner in the ninth and Bradley’s game-ending running catch of Kyle Seager’s drive.
Xander Bogaerts’ RBI single triggered a three-run first inning and Bradley hit a tworun homer in the sixth
Shut out for the second straight day, Seattle has lost seven of eight.
“Their guy threw the ball over the plate. He threw strikes,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “I won’t take anything away from what he did, but we’re not swinging the bat very well.”
Rob Whalen (0-1) gave up five runs and seven hits over 5 1/3 innings in his Mariners’ debut, his first big-league start since Aug. 23 for Atlanta. He is Seattle’s 12th starting pitcher, the most in the major leagues.
SEATTLE TRAINER’S ROOM
RHPs Hisashi Iwakuma and Felix Hernandez, both on the DL with shoulder inflammation, threw bullpen sessions. Hernandez said he “felt really good” ... LHP James Paxton (forearm strain) of Ladner is set to come off the DL and pitch at home Wednesday.