ST. PETERSBURG – Not that many years ago, the Seattle Mariners had pitching prospects in their system like Ryan Anderson and Gil Meche, and a smallish kid with a big heart – Joel Pineiro – snuck in under the radar.
This spring the chatter was about Matt Thornton, Clint Nageotte, Travis Blackley.
Oh, and the Independent League escapee, Bobby Madritsch.
In a season of loss, the Mariners may have made a find Thursday, when Madritsch pitched marvelously and Seattle snapped a six-game losing streak with an 11-inning victory over Tampa Bay, 4-2.
By the time Seattle rallied for three in the final inning, Madritsch was long gone, and Randy Winn and Bret Boone did the heavy lifting late to beat the Devil Rays.
Except for a home run by Tino Martinez in the fifth inning – and a solo shot from Carl Crawford against reliever Scott Atchison in the 11th, the Mariners pitching overmatched Tampa.
And it started with Madritsch.
“You know what I like most about what Bobby does?” teammate Boone asked. “You probably can’t write this, but it’s his ‘bleep’ you attitude on the mound. He’s not cute. He pitches aggressively, he says ‘beat me if you can, because I’m here to beat you.’
“That’s the best we’ve had in quite awhile.”
The line on Madritsch: eight innings, five hits, one run, one walk and six strikeouts.
Madritsch flew in his brother, a few sisters and his father from Chicago, blowing a good chunk of his first big-league paycheck, but he knew what he wanted.
“You only get that first major league start once in your life,” Madritsch said. “I wanted them there.”
They were, and before the game Madritsch’s father Ken took him aside.
“Win or lose, I’m proud of you,” he told his son.
After that, Madritsch said, how could he not do his best?
His best was a season high eight innings – an inning longer than anything he’d done in Tacoma – in which he threw 105 pitches. Devil Rays hitters hit one of them hard.
“The only thing he missed tonight was the win, and I wish we could have given it to him,” manager Bob Melvin said. “The attitude he takes to the mound, that’s something we’ve missed in a lof of guys we’ve brought up.”
“Tremendous job,” pitching coach Bryan Price said. “He took an aggression out there with him, and that makes a difference. Bobby was poised, he never panicked.”
For all that, the one run Madritsch gave up was enough to keep him from winning. That’s because Tampa starter Jorge Sosa was as stingy.
Seattle had plenty of opportunities but only one payoff in the first nine innings, and that came when Justin Leone singled in the fifth inning, moved up on an error and scored when Ichiro Suzuki delivered one of his three hits.
Seattle was so desperate for runs that in the 10th inning, after Ichiro had singled and Randy Winn walked, Melvin asked No. 3 hitter Boone to lay down a bunt.
“I think the last time I asked him was the first series in 2003,” Melvin said. “I wouldn’t blame if he was mad, but I think he understood.”
Understood?
“Shoot, the way this year has gone, if Bob hadn’t asked me, I might have laid down the bunt on my own,” Boone said. “We’re not scoring. I’m not hitting. This isn’t a normal season. I completely understood.”
An inning later, Miguel Olivo walked, Leone bunted and Jose Lopez singled him to third base.
Ichiro grounded hard to third base, and rookie Geoff Blum bobbled it, allowing the go-ahead run to score. Winn then singled home a second run, Boone got home a third.
That made a winner of reliever Atchison, who gave up a solo homer in the bottom half of the inning.
If the Mariners had a game ball, they’d have given it to Madritsch.
“I just took a look at this park and told myself ‘Keep the ball low,’” Madritsch said. “Every pitch out there, I thought of my family. It calmed me down.”
Now that the first start is over, he faces another challenge.
“My family thinks they ought to leave (today),” he said. “I’m going to try to talk them into staying all weekend.”
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