SEATTLE — Franklin Morales matched the great Felix Hernandez pitch for pitch for seven innings on Thursday night. The difference was that Hernandez had two more innings left to give.

The Seattle Mariners gave their ace a well-earned victory, scoring a run in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Red Sox, 1-0.

Pinch hitter John Jaso singled to right field, driving in Casper Wells from second base. The throw from Cody Ross beat Wells to the plate, but catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia could not hold onto the ball.

“That’s a play I have to make,” Saltalamacchia said, “especially in a game like that.”

Wells had doubled off Scott Atchison (2-1) with one out. After Justin Smoak was intentionally walked, Jaso lined the first pitch he saw into right.

“The only thing you can do in that situation is get the ball out of your glove as fast as you can and try and give your catcher a shot,” Ross said. “I thought we had him.”

Saltalamacchia was despondent afterward.

“I knew Cody was going to make a great throw and he did. It was right on the money,” he said. “I’ve got to do a better job of holding onto it in a big situation like that.”

Hernandez (6-5) was immense, matching his career high with 128 pitches in his fifth career shutout. He allowed five hits, all singles, walked one, and struck out 13, also tying his career best.

Outside of Mike Aviles, every Red Sox starter struck out at least once.

“He was great,” Dustin Pedroia said. “That’s the best we’ve seen. He was unreal, man. His stuff was moving all over the place.”

Hernandez pitched to the wide strike zone of umpire Adrian Johnson, working the corners with his fastball.

Morales was brilliant again in his new role, throwing seven shutout innings and scattering three hits, all singles. He waked two and struck out seven. Morales has a 2.00 earned run average in three starts since he replaced an injured Josh Beckett in the rotation.