Iwakuma overpowers Red Sox to propel Mariners

SEATTLE — Hisashi Iwakuma followed his worst start of the season with perhaps his best, stifling the Red Sox and leading his Mariners to an 3-1 victory on Wednesday night at Safeco Field.

The righty fired 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing five hits and no walks while striking out seven.

“Our starting pitching will take us as far as we can go,” manger Scott Servais said. “Kuma was outstanding tonight.”

The Mariners used solo homers from Nelson Cruz, Mike Zunino and Adam Lind to beat Rick Porcello, who slipped to 14-3. The sinkerballer turned in his second straight complete game and gave up just one additional hit other than the homers. He walked one and struck out eight.

“I pitched deep into the game, felt like I threw the ball well. Their guy was better,” said Porcello. “He really threw the ball well. He was outstanding. You tip your hat, sometimes you run into that.”

The loss dropped Boston three games behind the Orioles for first place in the American League East, and a half-game behind the Tigers for the second Wild Card spot. It was the continuation of a tough road trip offensively for the Red Sox, who have scored 21 runs in seven games.

“There’s been times where we’ve used the whole field and there have been other times where that hasn’t always been the case,” said Red Sox manager John Farrell. “I can’t say it’s dramatically changed or different from what we’ve been showing for the better part of this season. Again, we get a couple people on and the timely hit has not been there.”

Andrew Benintendi, the highly-touted prospect making his first Major League start for the Red Sox, had a pair of singles.

The Red Sox had the tying run at the plate in the ninth, but Mariners closer Edwin Diaz worked out of a jam, …

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