SEATTLE – Pitching and defense aren’t exactly a top-secret method to winning, but the Chicago White Sox have it and they’re flaunting it this weekend at Safeco Field.
Saturday night, right-hander Jose Contreras and three relievers limited the Seattle Mariners to a few moments of late hope, and then a 4-3 loss to the White Sox.
After trailing 4-0 and looking feeble against Contreras, who’d allowed just Richie Sexson’s second-inning single through six innings, the Mariners made it interesting with two runs in the seventh and one in the eighth.
But so did the White Sox, who unfurled their defense by throwing out the potential tying run at the plate, then shutting off the Mariners with relief pitching.
In lieu of a victory, Mariners manager Mike Hargrove gave thanks to the effort he got from his team.
“That game would have been very easy for us to roll over and say ‘Let’s get them tomorrow.’ Our guys didn’t do that,” he said. “We battled all night against a tough pitcher. He was throwing the ball 94-95 mph and he was throwing strikes. When a guy’s doing that, he’s tough.”
Mariners starter Joel Pineiro kept the game close but was no match for Contreras.
Pineiro pitched only one 1-2-3 inning, the fifth, and was finished after allowing seven hits and three runs through six innings. He fell to 5-9 with losses in his past two starts.
Jermaine Dye, who went 4-for-4, hit a two-run homer in the second inning, plus two doubles and a single.
“He didn’t pitch as well as he’s pitched in the past,” Hargrove said of Pineiro. “He did a good job not to give up more runs than he did.”
For six innings, Contreras was barely hittable.
Sexson led off the bottom of the second with a single to center, then Contreras retired 15 straight hitters.
“He made good pitches, but we didn’t give away many at-bats,” Hargrove said. “We waited him out and he got a little tired and we started getting base hits.”
They got three in the seventh, including Greg Dobbs’ two-run single that made the score 4-2.
Jamal Strong, making his first career start in center field, started the bottom of the eighth with a single and the White Sox turned to their bullpen.
Neal Cotts walked Ichiro Suzuki to put runners on first and second, but Willie Bloomquist popped up a sacrifice bunt attempt and Cotts struck out Raul Ibanez.
Burly right-hander Bobby Jenks took over against Sexson, and the crowd of 37,326 came to life. They especially took note after Jenks’ second pitch to Sexson measured 102 mph on the stadium radar gun.
“That may be the first time I’ve seen it get to 102,” Hargrove said. “Richie did a good job that at-bat.”
On Jenks’ next fastball – which hit 101 – Sexson slapped it into the right-field corner for what could have been a game-tying double. It scored Jamal Strong to make the score 4-3 but, while Ichiro Suzuki steamed toward home from first, the White Sox displayed a defense that ranks third in the American League.
Dye dug the ball out of the right-field corner and threw to second baseman Tadahito Iguchi, who relayed it to catcher A.J. Pierzynski. The ball beat Suzuki to the plate, and Pierzynski swiped his tag on Suzuki’s arm for the final out of the inning.
Suzuki gave a “safe” signal as he slid past the plate and Hargrove came out of the dugout to question umpire Bob Davidson’s call.
“He said he tagged his arm, that he got him before he got to the plate,” Hargrove said. “It looked to me like he was wrong, but he won.”
Still, the Mariners had another chance to tie the score in the ninth.
Adrian Beltre caught up with a 99 mph fastball from Jenks and his hit dribbled about 30 feet up the third-base line for an infield single. Dobbs dropped a sacrifice bunt to push Beltre to second, and both managers played matchups.
Hargrove sent left-handed-hitting Jeremy Reed to pinch-hit and also had lefty Dave Hansen in the on-deck circle but White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen brought in left-hander Damaso Marte.
Hargrove pulled both Reed and Hansen back to the dugout and sent Mike Morse to the plate. He walked and Yuniesky Betancourt, who would have been replaced by Hansen, batted with one out and the tying run on second.
Marte, who pitched for the Everett AquaSox in 1995, got Betancourt to ground into a double play that ended the game.
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