SEATTLE -- Moments after he neutralized the Majors’ most elite offense from last season, the Mariners gave Marco Gonzales an extra layer of satisfaction.

Gonzales’ Gonzaga Bulldogs were on the cusp of cracking the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament, and the club plastered the score across a big screen as a moment of reprieve for their emerging ace. The lefty had just labored through 5 1/3 innings against the Red Sox, successfully limiting damage from the 10 baserunners by giving up three runs, while riding the Mariners’ bats to a 12-4 win and his second victory in as many starts.

“I heard about it after I came out, but to be honest, I wasn’t that worried,” Gonzales said of Gonzaga, where he pitched in college.

After all of the pageantry following the Mariners’ trip across the Pacific, when Gonzales won the first game of the Opening Series in Tokyo against the A’s eight days prior, Thursday could’ve had an anticlimactic feel.

But not for Gonzales.

He’s the only Mariner who calls Seattle home year-round and he’s the pitching staff’s anchor to its embarking rebuild, even though he refuses to acknowledge the concept of a multiyear rinse and repeat.

“I had a lot of family and friends in the stands tonight. A lot of ‘Zags,” Gonzales said. “I think trying to walk the line between enjoying the moment and understanding what it is and going out and competing and pitching a ballgame, I feel like I did a better job than I did in Tokyo. I was ready for it. This is something that I’ve been waiting for for a long time. Ever since I knew I was going to get this game, I knew it was going to be something special, so I was ready to go.”

On Thursday, he was the prototypical crafty lefty that led to his breakout in 2018. Gonzales’ fastball never eclipsed 90 mph, his pitch portfolio was diverse not only in usage but also movement, and, most chiefly, he adjusted based on how the Red Sox attacked.

During the first inning when it appeared the wheels were spiraling after Gonzales gave up three straight one-out hits to Mookie Betts, Rafael Devers and J.D. Martinez, Gonzales forced consecutive groundouts to escape, then consulted catcher David Freitas.

The Red Sox were waiting on Gonzales’ offspeed, Freitas said, so the batterymates opted to throw more sinkers in, which Gonzales threw for nearly half of his remaining 77 pitches.

“We talked in the dugout and were like, ‘Hey, we’re going to switch it up if they think this is what they’re going to do to us,’” Freitas said. “Well, we kind of noticed that every time we were throwing his cutters away, they were really late. Almost like they were waiting for offspeed.”

“I run a lot of sinkers in and just try to expand the zone from there,” Gonzales said. “ … I would say it’s the probably the most consistent that I’ve felt this year. Definitely the most confident in the zone with all my pitches. I felt like I worked ahead in the count for the most part and made a couple mistakes but didn’t let things snowball.”

This is what made Gonzales the Mariners’ No. 1 starter, for starts abroad and at home. They admire his acumen to adjust.

“Marco has done a really good job of understanding who he is, reading the game situation and what’s working for him that day,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “He did a really nice job against the A’s over in Tokyo. He did a great job again today. He’s on the edge, trying to find what’s working early in the game and being able to minimize damage.”