BALTIMORE – The first man Jamie Moyer faced Wednesday was Brian Roberts, who doubled, stole third base and scored.
Seven innings later, that remained the only run for the Baltimore Orioles. Tied into the eighth inning, the Seattle Mariners handed the ball to Shigetoshi Hasegawa and he immediately gave up the two runs that led to Baltimore’s 3-1 victory.
A year ago, he was as good as anyone ever to walk out of the Seattle bullpen. This season, like virtually all his teammates, Hasegawa has been mortal.
“It’s weighing heavy on his shoulders,” teammate Ryan Franklin said of Hasegawa. “Look around this room, no one has dominated yet. Not the pitchers, not the hitters, no one.”
That’s as good an explanation as any for the Mariners’ 7-14 start.
Moyer struggled in the first inning – double, steal, walk – before getting a double-play grounder from Miguel Tejada and settling down. Over his last four innings, Moyer allowed one baserunner.
Seattle could not have asked for more from Moyer, who began the night with one win, two losses and a 6.26 earned-run average. He got them to the eighth inning, allowed only that one run, sliced his ERA to 5.10.
What the Mariners could have asked for was more offense.
From anyone.
Matched against right-hander Kyle Ainsworth – who started the night with a 9.88 ERA – Seattle managed four hits in five innings. When Ainsworth left, the Mariners’ offense went with him.
For three innings against left-handed reliever John Parrish, Seattle didn’t get a hit. In the ninth against closer Jorge Julio, they didn’t get a good swing.
Given that, it came down to pitching, to which bullpen could hold on longest. The answer was swift: In Hasegawa’s first inning, the Orioles scored twice.
And Hasegawa was all the Mariners had.
“We didn’t have the other right-handers available,” manager Bob Melvin said.
“That eighth inning, if we had, we might have made a switch in there, brought in a leftie to face Palmeiro or Gibbons, maybe. But Shiggy was the only right-hander we had available.”
So Melvin turned the eighth inning over to Hasegawa, and he in turn gave it up to the Orioles.
“I watched the game early and saw Tejada chasing pitches,” Hasegawa said. “I threw him something high, where I wanted it. He was waiting.”
Tejada led off the eighth with a double. Melvin ordered Rafael Palmeiro intentionally walked, bringing up Javy Lopez.
Hasegawa walked him, too, loading the bases.
Outfielder Jay Gibbons came up and Hasegawa wanted to pitch him away – down and away. He did, and Gibbons lined a hit into center field for two runs.
“I put the pitch where I wanted it, he hit it,” Hasegawa said. “There’s nothing I can do but my best. I’m trying. It’s like last September – I made my pitch, but they hit it. It happens.”
Hasegawa is now 1-3 with a 7.10 ERA this month.
“We had a few opportunities early in the game and didn’t get the big hit,” Melvin said. “Once their bullpen came in, we didn’t have any opportunities.”
There were chances, yes, but only one point-blank opportunity for Seattle, and the Mariners needed a little help there to get their only run of the night.
Raul Ibanez walked with one out in the fourth inning, Rich Aurilia bunted for a single and, with two outs, Dan Wilson walked to load the bases.
Randy Winn grounded sharply up the middle, but Tejada made a sprawling stop, jumped to his feet to flip to second base and found second baseman Roberts nowhere near the bag.
Oops.
Ichiro Suzuki grounded out, and that was Seattle’s big rally.
Parrish held them hitless in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, and when the Mariners faced Julio, he was overpowering.
Wilson lined out, pinch-hitter Dave Hansen was called out on a 97 mph fastball and Suzuki grounded to shortstop.
“Moyer was Moyer,” Orioles manager Lee Mazzili said. “Hasegawa can pitch, too, we just got to him for a couple of runs. It was a well-pitched game, could have gone either way.”
It went the way six of the last seven Mariners games have gone, to the other team.
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