ARLINGTON, Texas — There’s nothing official yet from the Seattle Mariners, but veteran reliever Joe Beimel sounds like a man headed for the disabled list after giving up three home runs Wednesday in a 7-2 loss to Texas.
“I’ve been kind of fatigued the last week or so,” he admitted. “It was like I was throwing through mud. Everything was real slow and (I’m) not bouncing back.
“I thought I’d be able to fight through it, just keep going out and battling. Today was just one of those things where I don’t think I’m going to be able to do that anymore.”
The Rangers forced the reassessment by hitting three homers in a span of four Beimel pitches in the seventh inning. Doing so turned a one-run game into a five-run blowout.
“The workload has been such that none of those guys (in the bullpen) are 100 percent,” manager Lloyd McClendon said. “I tried to give him a few days off, but he’s been elevating a lot of pitches. I’m a little concerned.”
Let’s reset:
Texas lefty Derek Holland, activated earlier in the day, held the Mariners to two runs in 61⁄3 innings after spending the last four-plus months on the disabled list because of a shoulder injury.
“It was pretty much there,” third baseman Kyle Seager said. “He had good velocity. He was getting that good arm-side running sink on the balls in. And his slider and curveball were the same. He looked pretty good to me.”
Holland (1-1) exited after Jesus Montero’s one-out single in the seventh. Montero went to second on Keone Kela’s two-out wild pitch and tried to score on Ketel Marte’s single to center.
Delino DeShields threw out Montero at the plate, which kept Texas in front by one run.
“It was the right play,” McClendon insisted. “The center fielder, traditionally, doesn’t throw well. (Lefty Jake) Diekman is hot in the bullpen, waiting to face Seager. It was definitely the right play.
“The guy made a throw.”
Beimel replaced starter Mike Montgomery (4-6) to start the Texas seventh and began the inning by hitting Shin-Soo Choo. After Adrian Beltre lined out to right, the game got away.
Mitch Moreland golfed an 0-2 slider-on-a-tee for a two-run homer on a drive that just cleared a leaping attempt by Nelson Cruz at the right-field wall. It wasn’t clear initially that Cruz didn’t catch the ball.
There were no doubt two pitches later when Mike Napoli hit a 447-foot homer to center or one pitch after that when Elvis Andrus hit a 413-foot homer to center.
“It’s definitely tired,” Beimel said of his arm. “Today was a little different kind of tired. I felt it grabbing a little in the back. I don’t know if that’s just a knot back there or what it is.”
Beimel, 38, had a 2.50 ERA as recently as Aug. 7. It now stands at 4.78 after giving up 12 runs (10 earned) in 12⁄3 innings over his last five appearances.
The tentative plan is the Mariners, who have an open date Thursday, will reevaluate Beimel prior to Friday’s game against the Chicago White Sox at Safeco Field. It will be a surprise if he isn’t placed on the disabled list.
If so, that would enable the Mariners, if they choose, to recall lefty Rob Rasmussen, who was optioned Sunday to Triple-A Tacoma. The 10-day waiting period doesn’t apply when replacing a player put on the DL.
The three-homer barrage against Beimel capped a 2-4 trip through Boston and Texas that saw the Mariners outscored 59-29. The bullpen gave up 27 of those runs in 251⁄3 innings.
The Rangers jumped Montgomery for three runs in the first inning before he settled into a groove. Choo lined a one-out single to left in the first inning and went to second on a four-pitch walk to Beltre.
Moreland then lined an RBI single to left for a 1-0 lead. When Montgomery hit Napoli, the bases were loaded with one out for Andrus, who punched a two-run single into center. The Rangers led 3-0.
After that, Montgomery held Texas to three hits, all singles, in five scoreless innings. Even so, that bad first inning was enough to beat the Mariners even if Beimel had worked a clean outing.
“As the game went on,” Montgomery said, “I just got a lot more settled in. Mechanically, I felt a lot better. I commanded my fastball a lot better. The goal is to come in and do that right off the bat.”
The Mariners got one run back against Holland when Mark Trumbo turned on a 2-1 slider for a one-out homer to left in the fifth inning, but they missed a big chance after loading the bases with no outs in the sixth.
Franklin Gutierrez grounded into a run-scoring double play, and Austin Jackson grounded out to third. That allowed the Rangers to hold onto to a 3-2 lead when Montero was thrown out at home in the seventh.
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