SEATTLE – Blink and you might miss the Seattle Mariners’ revamped offense.
The team that tried hard to be first in their fans’ hearts by adding Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre continues to be among the last in run production.
A 5-2 loss Saturday night to the Cleveland Indians continued a team-wide slump for the Mariners, who have lost three straight for the first time this season.
The Mariners have hit 11 home runs this season, fewest in the American League. Their 77 runs, 74 runs batted in and .254 team batting average rank 10th in the 14-team league.
Until Sexson’s RBI single in the ninth when they trailed by five runs, the Mariners had scored once in their previous 27 innings.
“We have a lot of people in our lineup who care so much that they’re pressing and trying too hard,” manager Mike Hargrove said. “That’s a real fine line you can’t cross.”
After getting waxed in the previous two games by two of the league’s top starters, Rich Harden of the A’s and C.C. Sabathia of the Indians, the Mariners made Cleveland left-hander Cliff Lee look like he belonged in that group.
They got just four hits off Lee.
“We’re making a lot of guys look good right now,” Sexson said.
Still, the Mariners had chances to score. Twice they had leadoff doubles – in the first inning by Ichiro Suzuki and the sixth by Jeremy Reed – but left the runners on base.
In the first, Randy Winn’s sacrifice bunt attempt turned into a popup to the pitcher before Beltre hit a line drive to shortstop that turned into an inning-ending double play. In the sixth, after Reed’s double, Willie Bloomquist struck out in an 11-pitch at-bat that included a miss on the only pitch he tried to bunt.
“We couldn’t execute and get them in. Those things happen,” Hargrove said. “It’s frustrating when it happens once, but twice even moreso.”
Two other times the Mariners had runners on second base – with two outs in the fifth after Raul Ibanez doubled and with one out in the seventh after Sexson singled and Bret Boone walked – and Lee stranded them.
The longer the Mariners went scoreless, the more pressure it put on their pitching and defense. Mariners starter Aaron Sele kept the game scoreless through six innings but couldn’t hold on any longer.
One out into the seventh, Grady Sizemore grounded a single up the middle and used his speed to ignite the Indians’ winning rally.
Sizemore, a Cascade High School graduate, broke for second on a two-strike pitch to Jhonny Peralta, who hit a grounder to Boone. Sizemore slid into second base safely, leaving Boone with no choice but to get the out at first base. Coco Crisp, the next batter, bounced a single up the middle and Sizemore scored easily for a 1-0 lead.
Ronnie Belliard followed with another single up the middle that ended Sele’s night. Ron Villone relieved, but immediately gave up a two-run double to Victor Martinez.
“I tried to keep it close as long as I could,” Sele said. “I wanted to get ground balls there, and I did. I got a ground ball out of Sizemore, I got a ground ball from Crisp and I got a ground ball from (Ronnie) Belliard. They got through the infield and that’s how they scored their runs.”
The Indians added another run in the eighth, when Ben Broussard stole third and scored on catcher Dan Wilson’s wild throw, and one in the ninth when Belliard homered off Shigetoshi Hasegawa.
The Mariners could use that kind of offense.
“We hit some balls hard that were right at them, but we also swung at some pitches that were not good pitches and let (Lee) get back into the count,” Hargrove said. “We were kind of our own worst enemy, along with the fact that he threw the ball pretty well.”
The Mariners ended a 15-inning scoreless streak in the ninth when Winn drew a leadoff walk, Beltre singled to center and Sexson singled to right, scoring Winn. With runners on first and third, Boone grounded into a double play that scored the Mariners’ second run.
Ibanez then hit a fly to left that ended the game and continued a difficult stretch for the Mariners offensively.
“Baseball is a game of cycles. There are good cycles and bad cycles,” Hargrove said. “The trick is to make the bad ones shorter than the good ones.”
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