The Mariners beat the Red Sox 8-3 in a regular-season meeting on Tuesday. The result extended their recent advantage over Boston, who had lost four of their last five games against Seattle.
To be fair, the Mariners had been struggling before this one. They had lost three of their last four against Toronto before turning it around against Boston on Monday.
The Red Sox had shown promise in their previous outing, but this performance told a different story. They were coming off a narrow win on Monday before falling behind again.
By then, the Mariners had pulled away from the pack with this decisive victory. The Red Sox meanwhile remain in a difficult position, having dropped four of their last five against Seattle this season.
And here's the thing about baseball — one game doesn't define a season, but eight runs on the board against a rival tells you something about where things stand.