"Most teams are happy to go .500 on a road trip.

With all the challenges the Red Sox have had putting up wins this year away from home, they were absolutely thrilled to salvage a 3-3 record on their West Coast swing.

That’s not to say their 6-3 victory over the Mariners yesterday was a walk in the park.

It took 12 innings, with the Red Sox bullpen, highlighted by 2 2/3 hitless innings by Justin Masterson in his relief debut, producing 6 2/3 scoreless innings of support.

Mike Lowell’s two-run single in the 12th, followed by Sean Casey’s RBI single, gave the Red Sox the cushion they needed for the most pleasant of return trips home.

A day off today, followed by a weekend of baseball against the Yankees, lay ahead but after yesterday’s nail-biter, the Red Sox were a happy bunch of campers.

The three losses in Anaheim over the weekend?

Forgotten.

The way the bullpen nailed this game shut?

Celebrated.

“I think we believe in them, we always have,” manager Terry Francona said of his relief corps. “On days we don’t necessarily get the job done, we still believe in them. I’ve said all along our bullpen’s been one of our strengths.”

Two of the four hits allowed by the Sox relievers were of the infield variety and both took weird bounces that neither Jonathan Papelbon [stats] (in the 11th) nor Craig Hansen (12th) could make plays on.

Hansen did nothing good for the blood pressure of Sox followers when he loaded the bases in the 12th on two singles and a walk, but he got three outs (and his second save) and the sweep of the Mariners was complete.

Masterson came into the game in relief of starter Clay Buchholz with two on and one out in the sixth, just after the Mariners had tied the game on Jose Vidro’s two-run home run. He got two strikeouts to get out of the jam and his next two innings were perfect.

“I was really excited for him, especially in that situation,” said Papelbon, who allowed two hits in the 11th and pitched in all three games of the series. “That was a tough situation, especially with it being his first time relieving. He passed it with flying colors, obviously.”

Until the winning rally, all of the game’s runs were packed in between the third and sixth innings."