SEATTLE – It wasn’t a swing to match the magnificence of Bret Boone’s first-inning grand slam, and it certainly didn’t come with a Boone-style bat flip.
Greg Dobbs was too busy running to admire his bloop to left field in the seventh inning Wednesday, but the result was just as big as what Boone produced in the first.
Dobbs’ slicing opposite-field pinch-hit double drove in three runs and gave the Seattle Mariners a 7-6 victory over the Oakland A’s at Safeco Field.
The game was also notable for something else: empy seats. The crowd of 24,841 was the smallest in the history of Safeco Field.
Dobbs already has gotten an education in the fine – and frustrating – art of pinch-hitting. He’s the Mariners’ main left-handed hitter off the bench, and until Wednesday had just one hit in six pinch-hit at-bats. At the same time, he has embraced the role.
“I’m getting more and more confidence as I get more pinch-hit at-bats,” he said. “It’s not easy by any stretch, but if I keep my attitude positive and want to be out there with games on the line, I think I’ll be OK.”
Manager Mike Hargrove sent him out to hit for catcher Miguel Olivo with the bases loaded, two outs and the score tied 4-4 in the seventh. This time, Dobbs delivered off A’s reliever Huston Street.
“He’s a sinker-slider guy who likes to keep the ball down,” said Dobbs, who faced Street last year in the Arizona Fall League and also at spring training. “I told myself to get something up in the zone and not go after the sinkers down and the sliders down.”
On the first pitch, Dobbs got a sinker and grounded it foul.
“It was something I went after that I shouldn’t have, trying to be too aggressive,” Dobbs said. “I stepped out of the box and just said, ‘OK, get something up and be patient.’ He threw a two-seamer that shot up in the zone and I got enough of it to shoot it into left field.”
The ball twisted toward the left-field line just enough to get past diving left fielder Eric Byrnes and roll slowly toward the wall.
“I know Byrnes flies out there and I know he’ll lay out for anything in the vicinity, but I knew it would drop when it came off my bat,” Dobbs said. “I didn’t hit it hard, but I pretty much knew it would fall for a hit.”
All three runners scored, making it 7-4 and putting Mariners starter Joel Pineiro in position to win his first game since last July 25. Pineiro, making his second start after shoulder problems during spring training, scattered nine hits and four runs through seven innings.
The Mariners gave Pineiro a four-run lead in the first inning, taking full advantage of Barry Zito’s wildness and one big swing from Boone.
Two walks and a single by Adrian Beltre loaded the bases with one out, and Zito threw three straight balls to Boone.
His next pitch looked every bit like ball four, a high-inside fastball that had Boone leaning backward as plate umpire Phil Cuzzi called it a strike. Zito’s next pitch was up again, but this time over the plate, and Boone crushed it.
Boone drove it into the bullpen beyond the left-field fence for his sixth career grand slam, four RBI that gave him 997 in his career and, more importantly, a 4-0 Mariners lead.
After the A’s nicked Pineiro for three runs in the second – Marco Scutaro hit an RBI single and Mark Kotsay hit a two-run double – the game developed into a series of big hitter-pitcher matchups with runners in scoring position.
* Scutaro stung a single to center field off Pineiro with two outs in the sixth to score Scott Hatteberg, tying the game 4-4.
* Ichiro Suzuki, who had singled in the second off Zito, batted with runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the sixth. He worked Zito in a 10-pitch at-bat before grounding out to shortstop. Randy Winn then struck out to end the inning.
* With runners on first and second and Zito out of the game in the seventh, Hargrove sent left-handed-hitting Jeremy Reed to bat against Street. Reed hit a chopper between the plate and third base and beat Eric Chavez’s throw for a single that loaded the bases.
* Hargrove then grabbed his main left-hander off the bench, Dobbs, hoping for a hit to decide the game.
“I don’t know if you’re ever comfortable sending someone up there in that situation,” Hargrove said. “But Greg swings the bat well. I felt like the matchup with Street was a good matchup. He came through for us.”
While it gave the Mariners a three-run lead, 7-4, the victory hardly was in hand.
Jeff Nelson pitched the eighth and loaded the bases with one out, prompting Hargrove to grab left-hander Ron Villone to face the left-handed-dominant top of the A’s lineup.
Villone hit Kotsay to force in a run, but got Jason Kendall on a popup and struck out Eric Chavez.
Closer Eddie Guardado pitched the ninth as only he can, with a hold-your-breath inning.
Erubiel Durazo led off with a home run to right-center field that made it a one-run game before Guardado got Scott Hatteberg and Mark Ellis on fly balls, then Byrnes on a strikeout that ended the game with his fifth save.
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