SEATTLE — Tuesday afternoon, Seattle Mariners manager John McLaren said he looked forward to a game that didn’t hinge on one misplaced pitch or one muffed play in the field.
He got that game Tuesday night. Then he wished for nail-biters again.
Afflicted with another horrid start from Miguel Batista, the Mariners fell behind early and by a large margin, on the way to a 10-1 loss to the Texas Rangers.
Eleven days after his one-inning start against the A’s, Batista lasted 21/3 innings this time and nearly walked the entire Rangers lineup before he departed. He walked six of them, which explains how he allowed six runs despite giving up three hits.
The only Rangers he didn’t walk were David Murphy, whose two-run homer in the third inning gave Texas a 5-0 lead; Ramon Vazquez, who doubled and singled in his first two at-bats; and Jarrod Saltalamacchia, the only Ranger who didn’t reach base against Batista.
“He was just all over the place,” McLaren said. “Usually he’s around the plate. He just didn’t have a good game.”
Batista has thrown up a few of these lately. Despite his three-hit, one-run start against the Indians last week, when he pitched seven innings, Batista has walked 14 in the past 10 innings he’s pitched.
That’s a big concern, and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre will study video of Batista’s motion for clues to the problem.
“His delivery looks the same. It doesn’t look like he’s overthrowing or anything,” McLaren said. “Mel’s going to check the tapes. It’s just one of those things he needs to work through.”
Not long after Batista left, so did many fans from what already was the smallest crowd ever at Safeco Field, 15,818. Seven of the 10 smallest crowds in stadium history have been this year.
The loss dropped the Mariners back into a last-place tie with the Rangers in the American League West, where they fell 71/2 games behind the first-place Angels.
Batista was in trouble from his second pitch, which Ian Kinsler hit down the left-field line for a double. He walked both Michael Young and Hamilton to load the bases, got Milton Bradley on an RBI ground out and Murphy on a sacrifice fly. He delivered two more walks to load the bases again but got out of the inning when Saltalamacchia grounded out.
Despite limiting the damage to two runs, Batista already had put himself into a dire situation. He threw 44 pitches in the first half-inning, which took 24 minutes before he got the third out, and clearly would need to be bailed out by the bullpen and the offense.
The Rangers scored another run in the second after Vazquez’s leadoff double, then delivered their knockout punch to Batista in the third.
He walked Bradley to start the inning, then threw a fastball that Murphy hit into the right-field seats for a two-run homer. He struck out Brandon Boggs but walked Frank Catalanotto with his 85th — and final — pitch.
McLaren turned to Cha Seung Baek, who he had considered saving for Saturday in case Jarrod Washburn (sore right calf) can’t make that start.
“I talked to Jarrod during the game and he feels pretty confident he’ll be able to pitch,” McLaren said.
Baek pitched the next 42/3 innings and gave up four runs, including a homer by Hamilton that landed in the second deck in right field.
The Mariners’ offense, meanwhile, managed only a fifth-inning run against Rangers starter Sidney Ponson. Wladimir Balentien and Ichiro Suzuki hit back-to-back doubles with one out. By then, the Rangers already had 10 runs.
Balentien went 2-for-4 and would have had another hit without Murphy’s diving catch near the right-field line in the third inning. Balentien is 4-for-7 in the past two games and has lifted his average to .280.
Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com
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