SEATTLE — The Red Sox put their two newest players in what surely looked like a position to succeed on Tuesday night. Instead it went disastrously wrong.
Reliever Fernando Abad, obtained Monday for the very specific purpose of retiring tough lefthanded hitters, allowed a three-run homer by Robinson Cano in the eighth inning as the Seattle Mariners beat the Red Sox, 5-4.
Andrew Benintendi, called up from the minors earlier in the day, entered the game with the Sox comfortably ahead. He ended up at the plate in the ninth inning and struck out on three pitches to end the game.
David Price had a three-hit shutout through seven innings, a 4-0 lead, and the bottom of the Seattle order coming up. That somehow proved to be a bad recipe.
Mike Zunino led off with a home run to left field. Leonys Martin, Luis Sardinas, and Guillermo Heredia followed with singles, none that were particularly hard hit. Martin scored and the lead was 4-2.
Matt Barnes came in and struck out pinch hitter Seth Smith. The Sox then turned to Abad, acquired from the Minnesota Twins.
Cano, a lefty hitter, was 1 for 11 against the lefthanded Abad and he fell behind, 0 and 2. But Cano took a fastball off the plate, fouled off a fastball then hammered a curveball into the stands in right field.
It was a somewhat decent pitch, low in the strike zone. But not good enough.
Price was charged with four runs. The Sox are 11-12 in games he has started.
Rookie Edwin Diaz, newly installed as Seattle’s closer, walked pinch hitter Travis Shaw with one out in the ninth. Sandy Leon then struck out and Benintendi took a called third strike. He was completely overmatched by three straight fastballs.
The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead on Seattle starter Wade LeBlanc in the first inning. Dustin Pedroia drew a walk and scored on two-out double to left field by David Ortiz.
Many of Ortiz’s hits achieve milestones but that double packed particular historical emphasis.
It was Ortiz’s 2,415th career hit, tying him with Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle for 120th place all time. It also was Ortiz’s 36th double this season, a record for a player age 40 or older. He broke the mark set by Hall of Famer Sam Rice in 1930.
The Sox added two runs with two outs in the fourth inning.
Hanley Ramirez hammered a fastball 455 feet to left field for his 14th home run. The ball cleared the out of town scoreboard.
Jackie Bradley Jr. then dropped what should have been a single into center field. But Martin was slow to the ball and Bradley hustled around first and slid in safely for a double.
When Aaron Hill singled to left, Bradley was on the move and scored easily.
Hill has started five straight games at third base and been a contributor to the offense.
LeBlanc went six innings and allowed three runs on five hits with one walk and five strikeouts.
Donn Roach took over for LeBlanc in the seventh inning. He retired the first three batters he saw including Benintendi, who grounded to second in his major league debut.
The lead stretched to 4-0 in the eighth inning. Betts led off with a double to left field. Pedroia grounded to second base, advancing Betts to third. After Xander Bogaerts was hit by a pitch, Ortiz sent a fly ball to left field and Betts tagged up and scored.
Ortiz has 87 RBIs in 97 games.
As the Red Sox provided some run support, Price had little trouble with Seattle through the first seven innings.
Left fielder Bryce Brentz misplayed a sinking liner off the bat of Kyle Seager into a double with two outs in the second inning. Price then struck out Zunino looking.
Cano singled with one out in the fourth inning but Price struck out Nelson Cruz and got Dae-Ho Lee to ground to third. Hill made a nice pickup on a short hop and threw to second to end the inning.
Price was hit on the left knee by a line drive from Sardinas in the sixth inning but stayed in the game.
Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @PeteAbe.
