Chavez's 10-pitch walk helps spur rally

BOSTON -- Endy Chavez was playing in the 1,131st game of his 13-year Major League career on Friday night. Never before had he walked three times in the same game.

But with two outs and his team trailing 3-0, the 5-foot-11, 170-pound outfielder worked Red Sox closer Koji Uehara for a 10-pitch walk, his third of the night. And that at-bat turned out to be a key moment in what wound up as a five-run rally as Seattle pulled out a 5-3 victory on a night they'd been all but left for dead.

"I was just trying to get a pitch to put a ball in play," Chavez said. "That's the first time in my career I've taken three walks in one game. I was fighting with two strikes and trying to be selective at the same time."

Chavez knew off the top of his head this was a career-high for walks?

"I don't take walks very often. Usually the most is one in a game. So, yes, I can remember," the Venezuelan native said with a grin.

Manager Lloyd McClendon said that at-bat showed exactly the type of value the 36-year-old brings to the Mariners.

"There's nothing like experience," McClendon said. "He never panics in that situation. Looking back at that at-bat, Uehara threw him some really tough pitches. A couple he just barely fouled off. That was probably the biggest at-bat of the year for us."