A near-no-hitter, a record comeback and a game the Mariners should have won

Just when it seemed the Mariners’ season of offensive ineptness would play itself out with something we figured had to happen — a no-hitter — these guys put together some good at-bats, took advantage of shoddy play by the Red Sox and rallied to turn a no-no into an “Oh my!”

But what started as a loss ended as a loss, and the reason was familiar. The Mariners’ offense reverted to its mean and they blew a point-blank chance to win in the 12th inning.

They had the bases loaded with one out against Red Sox reliever Hideki Okajima before Jose Lopez and Milton Bradley popped out. In the 13th, with left-hander Garrett Olson trying to continue a phenomenal five-inning stretch of no-hit relief by the Mariners, Eric Patterson hit a two-run double to give the Red Sox an 8-6 victory.

It muted the impact of Josh Bard’s single with two outs in the eighth inning to end John Lackey’s bid for a no-hitter, and especially the Mariners’ rally in the ninth when they scored five runs off Boston relievers Manny Delcarmen and Jonathan Papelbon to tie the score 6-6. The Mariners had some dramatic at-bats to pull off that rally — Franklin Gutierrez’s two-run homer and Casey Kotchman’s RBI double — but they also were blessed by an off night by Delcarmen and Papelbon, plus poor defense by second baseman Bill Hall and shortstop Marco Scutaro, who each made an error in the ninth.

Regardless, the Mariners accomplished something with that rally that they’d never done in franchise history. They scored at least five runs in the ninth inning to tie a game.

That’s nice. But the memory that seemed to stick most with manager Don Wakamatsu were the at-bats by Lopez and Bradley in the 12th. The Mariners had worked their way into a game-winning situation with the bases loaded and one out, but Lopez and Bradley popped out.

One inning later, the Mariners had suffered their 59th loss.

“It was a tremendous comeback and a heartbreak, all in the same game,” Wakamatsu said. “It comes down to that 12th inning. Bases loaded, meat of the order up and we don’t get it done.

“We battled and battled to tie it up in the ninth and put ourselves in a situation in the 12th. We’ve got to get it done in that situation, and then it becomes a heck of a story instead of a heartbreak.”