Twins CF Byron Buxton (broken left big toe) i

The toughest moment of Mike Leake’s stellar night was missing a chance for a shutout.

Leake pitched eight sparkling innings Packers Authentic Jerseys , Mitch Haniger drove in three runs and the Seattle Mariners snapped a season-high five-game losing streak with a 7-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday.

With closer Edwin Diaz needing some work, Seattle manager Scott Servais had to deliver the bad news to Leake.

”Very tough, very, very hard,” Servais said. ”I told him: `Mike, 99 percent of the time I wouldn’t take you out of this game, but we need to get Eddie out there.”’

Leake (8-4) gave up three singles, struck out five and walked two six days after he allowed five runs and took the loss against the Red Sox at Safeco Field. Diaz gave up two runs in the ninth.

”I wanted it,” Leake said. ”I was ready, but they wanted to give Diaz work, so there’s no fight there.”

His last shutout was on Sept. 30, 2015, for San Francisco against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Nelson Cruz had three hits and scored twice a night after hitting two homers and driving in seven runs for Seattle, which went on its skid after beating Boston two straight at home last weekend.

J.D. Martinez had two singles for Boston after going 4 for 5 with five RBIs when the Red Sox collected a season-high 20 hits in a 14-10 victory Friday.

Eduardo Rodriguez (9-2) gave up five runs, four earned, in four innings, snapping his personal six-game win streak. The Red Sox were 13-1 in his starts this season.

”Today was just the command with the pitches, you know what I mean?” he said.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Rodriguez’s lack of command with his cutter was the difference from last weekend when he was solid against the Mariners. He said both of Haniger’s doubles came off the pitch.

”Those two pitches, compared to last week, last week we attack them away, Eduardo did and tonight he tried to go in and it didn’t work,” he said.

Playing on a cool, misty night, the Mariners managed to close out the Red Sox after blowing two five-run leads during their slide Texans Authentic Jerseys , including Friday.

Seattle broke it open with three runs in the fourth. Haniger made it 4-0 with a two-out, two-run double off the Green Monster. He scored from second on Kyle Seager’s infield hit when Rodriguez slipped covering first and turned late for the plate.

Haniger also had an RBI double in the first.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Mariners: SS Jean Segura missed his third straight game with a right forearm infection. ”The swelling has gone down quite a bit,” Servais said. The plan was for him to hit and field to see where he’d be for Sunday afternoon’s game.

Red Sox: Cora said LHP Drew Pomeranz (10-day DL, left biceps tendinitis) felt better after throwing off a mound on Friday. He threw lightly on Saturday and Cora said he ”might do another bullpen” on Monday. … 3B Rafael Devers fouled a ball of his foot and came out after completing his at-bat. ”He’s OK,” Cora said.

SHORT-HANDED SOX

Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts and shortstop Xander Bogaerts were both out of the lineup.

Cora said Betts was ”a little bit under the weather. He had no energy.” The All-Star outfielder entered Saturday with a .342 average, second-best in the majors, with 19 homers and 39 RBIs.

Bogaerts left Friday’s game after he sprained his left index finger on a headfirst slide to second.

YOU AGAIN

For the second straight game, both starters had faced the same team in their previous start. Rodriguez earned the win, allowing only two runs in six innings last Sunday in Seattle.

”It does make it a little bit more challenging for the pitcher in my mind,” Servais said before the game.

Cora said: ”You have to make an adjustment just to make an adjustment.”

UP NEXT

Mariners: LHP Marco Gonzales (7-4, 3.80 ERA) is slated to start the series finale Sunday. He’s 6-2 with a 2.88 ERA in his last 11 starts.

Red Sox: LHP Chris Sale (6-4, 2.74) is set to start. The ace has allowed one or no runs in nine of 17 starts this season and is 5-1 with a 2.09 ERA in his career against Seattle.

At age 36, James Shields is not in the picture of the future for the rebuilding Chicago White Sox.

Still, he remains a big part of the present.

Jose Abreu and Avisail Garcia homered and Shields limited Minnesota to four hits over seven innings, leading the White Sox to a 6-1 victory over the Twins on Wednesday night.

Shields (3-9) struck out five and walked just two in his only scoreless start of the season. The veteran right-hander lasted just 4 2/3 innings in a loss to Oakland on Friday. Before that, he had worked at least six innings in 11 straight turns and has gone at least seven innings five times. After struggling through the last two years following his arrival in a trade with San Diego, Shields has begun to settle in.

”He’s a guy that kind of balances out our rotation,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. ”He shows these guys how to grind through an inning, get through certain situations, remain calm, understand that no matter how much havoc occurs around you, the best thing is to try to execute pitches.”

Tim Anderson and Charlie Tilson each had two hits and an RBI for Chicago, which has won three straight games and four of five.

”The pitching and the defense were really good,” Shields said Colts Authentic Jerseys , ”and the hitting was phenomenal.”

Ehire Adrianza had four hits and an RBI for Minnesota, which has dropped two straight games and five of six. Twins starter Kyle Gibson (2-6) allowed five runs on 11 hits in seven innings.

The White Sox took a 3-0 lead in the fourth. Abreu and Garcia led off with singles. One out later, Leury Garcia doubled to drive in Abreu. Anderson followed with a run-scoring single, and Omar Narvaez drove in a run with a ground out. Abreu’s solo homer in the fifth stretched the lead to 4-0.

Avisail Garcia’s solo homer in the eighth made it 6-0. The Twins tacked on a run in the ninth, but they fell to 34-42 to match their season high of eight games below the .500 mark after another night of chasing too many pitches out of the strike zone.

”Lefties had a hard time laying off the slider, especially down and in,” manager Paul Molitor said. ”We really didn’t hit too many balls hard.”

BALK TALK

With two outs in the sixth, Eddie Rosario walked and Brian Dozier singled to put runners on first and third and give Minnesota a chance to close the gap. But then the game took a bizarre turn. With Max Kepler stepping to the plate, Twins third base coach Gene Glynn suddenly was ejected by third base umpire Gerry Davis.

”He had wanted a balk the inning before,” Davis said to a pool reporter. ”I explained to him it was not a balk, told him I wasn’t sure he knew the definition of what a balk was for a stop. The next half inning he came out, brought it up again … and I ejected him.”

BALK TALK II

Later in the at-bat, Shields faked a pickoff throw to first and then spun around to throw to third baseman Yolmer Sanchez. Shields was called for a balk, which allowed Rosario to score and Dozier to move up to second.

Renteria argued, claiming Shields stepped off before faking to first, which is within the rules. After huddling, the umpires overturned the balk, sending the runners back. Molitor came out to protest and was quickly ejected.

”It was suspicious in the fact that we couldn’t tell if he disengaged with the rubber at all,” Molitor said. ”There’s a lot of things about the move that are suspect to me.”

Shields then struck out Kepler looking on a 71-mph curveball to end the inning.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Twins CF Byron Buxton (broken left big toe) is scheduled to play both games of a doubleheader with Triple-A Rochester on Thursday. He’ll DH one game and play the field in the other.

UP NEXT

RHP Jake Odorizzi (3-5, 4.97 ERA) pitches the final game of the three-game series for the Twins, looking to bounce back a rough outing. He gave up for six runs on six hits in 1 2/3 innings against Texas on Saturday.

RHP Lucas Giolito (5-7, 7.01 ERA) takes the mound for the White Sox, aiming to win a second straight start.