SEATTLE – As American League teams get more familiar with Bobby Madritsch, they’re learning what the Seattle Mariners already know about their sudden star.
Give Madritsch just a little offense – what else could these Mariners offer? – and he’ll give them a good chance to win.
That combination, seldom seen all season, delivered the Mariners a 3-2 victory Tuesday night over the Anaheim Angels at Safeco Field.
Five days after Madritsch shut out the Boston Red Sox for eight innings, he did it again with eight more Tuesday. He allowed six hits and two walks, struck out seven and pitched with a runner on second base just twice until the ninth, when the Angels finally nicked him with two hits and two runs.
J.J. Putz got the final two outs in the ninth, the last with the tying and go-ahead runners on base, to preserve Madritsch’s fifth victory.
“He pitched his heart out again against another good lineup,” Mariners manager Bob Melvin said.
Last week, the Red Sox couldn’t figure out Madritsch’s changeup. Tuesday, the Angels didn’t get a solid hack at his fastball until it was too late.
Melvin said Madritsch is showing the mark of a major league pitcher by making adjustments. He is pitching according to the feel for his fastball and changeup, and how opposing hitters react to those pitches.
“That’s how you stay in the big leagues, making adjustments,” Melvin said.
Five of Madritsch’s strikeouts ended innings, and all of them came on fastballs that kept the Angels off balance after he’d set them up with his changeup.
“That’s the whole key,” he said. “I owe a lot of that to (catcher) Dan Wilson and the way he calls a game. He remembers exactly what we threw to a batter the time before that. Having him behind the plate is a load off my chest.”
Madritsch, whose earned run average now sits at 3.02, got just enough run support to boost his record to 5-2.
Ichiro Suzuki’s RBI double in the fifth inning broke a scoreless tie, and Randy Winn’s two-run homer during pinch-hitting duty in the seventh made it 3-0.
Suzuki’s double, his only hit of the game, ended an 0-for-10 skid and was his 232nd hit this season as he inches toward the major league record of 257 hits.
It also moved Suzuki into a tie for 29th place on the single-season hit list, joining a name that may sound familiar. Earl Averill of Snohomish had 232 hits for the Cleveland Indians in 1936, as did Nip Lajoi of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1901.
Madritsch cruised through the eighth inning, and Melvin sent him back for the ninth despite 116 pitches that were three short of his season high.
Vladimir Guerrero lined a single through his legs to start the ninth and, after Troy Glaus hit a fly to center for the first out, stole second. Garret Anderson drove Guerrero home with a single to center that ended both the shutout and Madritsch’s night.
“It’s tough taking him out of that game, but I’m not going to put him in a position to suck up a loss after pitching like that,” Melvin said.
Putz struck out Jose Guillen before Benji Molina grounded a single to right field and Chone Figgins chopped an infield single that scored Anderson, trimming the Mariners’ lead to one run. With runners on first and second, and switch-hitting pinch-hitter Jeff Davanon at the plate, Melvin stayed with Putz instead of bringing in veteran Ron Villone.
“We’re grooming J.J. to do this,” Melvin said. “We got him in there for this reason, and we were going to let him face this guy and see where it went.”
Davanon stung a line drive to right field, where Suzuki barely had to move for the catch that ended the game.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
