Seattle — John Farrell opted to pitch to Nelson Cruz with the game on the line, and the Boston Red Sox paid for it.

Cruz hit a two-out RBI single into the left-center gap to score Brad Miller from second base and send the Seattle Mariners to a 2-1 victory Friday night.

Miller started the rally with a one-out single to deep short off Tommy Layne (0-1), and advanced to second on Robinson Cano's groundout. With two outs, first base open and Cruz currently leading the league with a .361 average coming in, Farrell decided to bring in right-hander Junichi Tazawa to pitch to him. Cruz worked the count to 3-2 before his game-winner.

"That's a terrible decision on my part. I own that one," Farrell said. "We had a base open. We saw Cruz's first three at-bats he was chasing some off-speeds below the zone (three strikeouts). He was 1-for-8 against Taz previously. It didn't work out. That's a horrible decision on my part.

"We got it set up with two outs. We could easily take the bat out of his hands, walking him and have lefty-on-lefty with Layne against (left-hitting Kyle) Seager. That was the move to make."

It might have surprised even Cruz.

"It's the game. You never know what's going to happen," Cruz said. "If they didn't want to pitch to me, they'd walk me right away.

"I like challenge. I like to be in that spot."

Tom Wilhelmsen (1-0), who tossed two shutout innings, picked up the victory.

Seth Smith hit his third home run for the Mariners in the sixth.

Clay Buchholz, who worked the first eight innings for the Red Sox, had no walks and a season-high 11 strikeouts, one shy of his career high. He showed no signs of a left ankle injury sustained Sunday against Toronto.

"He was pretty filthy today," Cruz said of Buchholz. "I've never seen his changeup before when I faced him. He got me twice with that. I guess he keeps that in his pocket."

Buchholz said Tazawa wasn't trying to throw that pitch anywhere in the zone to Cruz.

"It just sometimes happens," he said. "You can't get too hard on yourself about it. It's a game and that's why we live to play tomorrow."

Shane Victorino used his bat and back to score the game's first run in the second. After he singled, Pablo Sandoval hit a soft liner to Miller at shortstop and Victorino was caught too far off first and scrambled back. Miller's throw, however, hit Victorino in the back and he was ruled safe.

When the ball hit him, Victorino was on the infield grass, considerably out of the baseline. Manager Lloyd McClendon did not argue the point.

"You kind of make your own baseline coming back to the bag," McClendon said. "That's a veteran play. It's a smart move. We teach our guys to do the same thing."

Victorino then stole second and scored on Xander Bogaerts' triple off the left-center wall.

"I thought I had that one," Bogaerts said, bemoaning just barely missing a home run. "If I had that one, probably the game would have been a lot different."

Breaking up the righties

With the Mariners hitting .053 (1 for 19) with runners in scoring position during their previous two games, McClendon adjusted, shifting left-hand-hitting Logan Morrison one spot down in the lineup to seventh. "Just to split (the right-handers) up," McClendon said. "We haven't had a lot of success down there." Morrison has been one of the team's top hitters, batting .353 since April 29. The Mariners have used 27 different batting orders in 35 games.

Ortiz haunts old team

With his first-inning single, Red Sox DH David Ortiz has been on base with a hit or walk for 47 of the 49 career games he has played against the Mariners. That includes all 29 of his road games at Safeco. Ortiz, originally a Mariners farmhand, has the second-best OPS in Safeco Field history.

Trainer's room

Mariners: CF Austin Jackson (right ankle sprain) "should be close" to heading out on a rehab assignment, McClendon said. "I told him what I'd tell any player: You have to swing the bat before you come back, and have some success 'cause you don't want to waste your at-bats up here," McClendon said. ... SS Chris Taylor got a day to rest. He has a neck strain and is hitting .143.

Red Sox: RHP Justin Masterson (right shoulder tendinitis), placed on the DL on Wednesday, is starting off by merely playing light catch at this point.

Up next

Mariners: RHP Felix Hernandez (6-0, 1.85) has been a handful for the Red Sox to deal. In 17 career starts, Hernandez is 8-2 with a 3.06 ERA against Boston. He is 5-1 with a 3.51 ERA in eight Safeco Field starts, including 4-0 with a 2.53 ERA over his last six. He is off to the best start of his career and second best in club history behind Aaron Sele's 8-0 start in 2001.

Red Sox: RHP Rick Porcello (3-2, 4.50) threw 101 pitches in only five innings in his previous start Monday against Oakland. He is 2-3 with a 4.18 ERA in five career starts against Seattle but this will be only his second career start in Safeco Field, since April 20, 2011, while with Detroit.