Thursday night's stunning 8-7 victory against the Mariners by the Red Sox was just the fourth time in franchise history that they rallied from a deficit of five or more runs in the ninth inning to win.
The Sox, down 5-0, beat the Orioles, 6-5, on May 13, 2007 in the "Mother's Day Miracle. Before that, you have to go back to 1931 and '37.
Thursday was just the third time in history the Sox came back to win after trailing by six or more runs when entering the eighth inning. The previous time was July 3, 1940 against Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics when the game ended on back-to-back home runs by Ted Williams and Jimmie Foxx.
The Sox were down 11-6 in that game, which was played before a crowd of 2,400.
"Without a doubt it was a remarkable inning," Sox manager John Farrell said today. "Think there was a time this morning just sitting around having a cup of coffee thinking, 'Still can't believe we won last night.' "
Also:
• There was a lot of discussion in the Red Sox clubhouse about an interpretation by the umpires in the ninth inning.
Robby Thompson, Seattle's acting manager, had lefthander Oliver Perez and righthander Yoervis Medina warming up. When he went to the mound to take out Tom Wilhelmsen, Thompson raised his left arm even though he intended to bring in the righthander.
The umpires have some leeway in that situation but made Thompson bring in Perez, who gave up RBI singles by Shane Victorino and Dustin Pedroia. Those hits accounted for three of the runs.
"To me it's kind of a technicality in some ways," Farrell said. "I could understand if Robby was upset. I think he had a right to be. But [umpire crew chief Gary Darling] didn't want to go back on the decision. He held him to it. As I understand it, that pitcher's not in the game until he walks on the mound."
Had the umpires allowed Medina to come in the game, Farrell said he would not have argued.
"Maybe I'm a little bit lenient on the view of it. I wouldn't have protested," Farrell said. "Maybe that's an oversight on my part but that's kind of how I viewed it last night."
• The Red Sox have promoted 23-year-old righthander Anthony Ranaudo to Triple A Pawtucket. He will start on Monday at Buffalo.
Ranaudo was 8-4 with a 2.95 earned run average and a 1.09 WHIP in 19 starts for Double A Portland. Over 109.2 innings, he allowed 80 hits and struck out 106. Ranaudo was the 39th overall pick of the 2010 draft out of LSU.
Ranaudo came back strong after making only nine starts in 2012 because of injury and pitching to a 6.69 ERA.
"Ranaudo has had a little bit of a turnaround. He's remained healthy, first and foremost," Farrell said. "The velocity has climbed to the projection that made him a first-round pick."
• Franklin Morales is scheduled to continue his rehab assignment with back-to-back games for Pawtucket on Saturday and Sunday. Farrell said the Sox would decide then if Morales is activated.
The Sox could have a bit of a logjam of lefties with Craig Breslow, Matt Thornton, Drake Britton and Morales.
