SEATTLE — Shea Hillenbrand knew Jamie Moyer was struggling, and the Boston Red Sox had a rare chance to rough up Seattle's soft-throwing lefty. Hillenbrand hit one of four Boston home runs as the Red Sox turned an attractive pitching matchup between Moyer and Derek Lowe into a slugfest, beating the Mariners 12-5 Wednesday night.

        “It's not every day you see something like that done to a pitcher of his caliber,” Hillenbrand said. “It was huge. Moyer has been pitching really well lately.”

        Trot Nixon homered twice for the Red Sox, hitting a solo shot in the fourth as they tied it 3-all and a two-run homer in Boston's seven-run sixth.

        Manny Ramirez also went deep for the Red Sox, who remained five games behind the AL East-leading New York Yankees and two back of Anaheim in the wild-card race.

        Moyer (12-5) had Boston's batters in check early. He threw first-pitch strikes to the first 10 hitters and retired nine of the first 10 before Nixon's first home run.

        “I thought I threw some good pitches and they hit them,” Moyer said. “I thought I threw some bad pitches and they hit them.”

        Moyer allowed 10 runs, nine earned, on 10 hits in 5 2-3 innings, striking out seven. It was the fourth time in his career he allowed 10 or more runs, the last being Aug. 14, 2000, against Detroit.

        He had given up only one homer in his previous six starts and has been Seattle's most steady pitcher this season. Moyer had won four straight decisions, and six of seven.

        “Personally, I've never been in a ballpark when Jamie Moyer had a bad game,” Boston manager Grady Little said. “I was pleased to see that tonight.”

        Early in the game, it was Lowe (17-5) who was shaky.

        But he turned things around to earn his fifth straight victory and become the league's first 17-game winner this season.

        After giving up a solo home run to Edgar Martinez in the third, Lowe retired 11 straight batters before Jeff Cirillo singled to start the seventh.

        “I'll take it,” Lowe said. “I don't really care how I do, we won.”

        He allowed five runs and eight hits in 6 1-3 innings. He gave up only his seventh and eighth homers of the year, raising his ERA from 2.09 to 2.29. The sinkerballer came in with the lowest ERA in the majors, but teammate Pedro Martinez now leads at 2.14.

        The Red Sox scored an unearned run in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead. Seattle left fielder Mark McLemore dropped a hard-hit ball by Brian Daubach to start the inning, allowing Daubach to reach second. He moved to third on Rey Sanchez's bunt and scored on a sacrifice fly by Johnny Damon.

        Desi Relaford hit a two-run homer in the second inning on the first pitch Lowe threw him — giving the fill-in shortstop a triple, double, single and home run in four consecutive at-bats over two games.

        Relaford, hitting in the ninth hole, missed hitting for the cycle Tuesday night by a home run and was on deck in the eighth when the inning ended.

        Notes: It was Nixon's second two-homer game this season and the fourth of his career. His other one this year came Aug. 2 at Texas. He also has hit three homers once. ... Ramirez has seven home runs in his career against Moyer. ... Cliff Floyd, Boston's designated hitter, had two hits after missing two games with a right hip flexor. He's hitting .412 in 10 games since arriving from Montreal. ... Seattle's Jose Offerman, acquired last week from Boston, came in to play left field in the seventh for his first appearance in the field against his former team. He moved to second base in the eighth. Offerman pinch-ran Tuesday. ... Every Boston batter but Daubach got a hit, and they all scored. ... The Red Sox scored 10 or more runs for the 17th time this season.

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