SEATTLE — Positive signs don’t win games, but that’s all the Seattle Mariners could embrace Sunday after their seventh straight loss, 6-4 to the Cleveland Indians.
Erik Bedard produced a mix of good and poor results in his first Safeco Field start since July 25, 2009, something to be expected of a guy who has experienced three shoulder operations in three years.
The offense remained quiet until Indians starter Josh Tomlin began to tire in the seventh inning. That’s when the Mariners reached the seats with a couple of home runs, Ryan Langerhans’ two-run drive off Tomlin and Michael Saunders’ solo homer two batters later against reliever Chad Durbin.
By then, it was too late for the Mariners to overcome the six runs they’d spotted the Indians in the first four innings. They fell to 2-7 after having won their first two games of the season at Oakland.
“Ultimately, you find out a lot about yourselves when you do go through these stretches,” manager Eric Wedge said. “We’ll find out more just because it’s so early in the season. Every game that we’ve played, we’ve (played hard to the end) and that’s what we’re going to do. You talk about respecting the game and playing the way you’re supposed to play. Now, we’ve got to be better. We’ve got to do a better job with every area of our club, and then bring it together.”
In lieu of victory, here’s what the Mariners learned Sunday:
n Bedard remains a pitcher on the comeback trail after his shoulder problems. He allowed 10 hits and six runs, including homers by Asdrubal Cabrera and Jack Hannahan, in four innings.
Bedard’s velocity wasn’t quite in the 92-93 mph range it was late in spring training — something the Mariners aren’t concerned about — and he was hurt when he left pitches up in the strike zone.
“It’s been a year and a half,” Bedard said. “It might take a little while.”
n The bullpen again finished strong, with David Pauley, Jamey Wright and Brandon League holding the Indians to one hit in the final five innings. Pauley was perfect in the fifth, sixth and seventh.
“For some reason I started the season in the bullpen thinking I had to be more perfect than I’d been, throw better pitches than I had. It didn’t work,” said Pauley, who entered the game with a 5.40 ERA. “Today, it was like, ‘Here’s my stuff, see what you can do with it.’”
n For the second straight game, an outfield throwing error allowed the Indians to score. This one was charged to right fielder Ichiro Suzuki, whose throw home after Orlando Cabrera’s third-inning double was high and glanced off the glove of first baseman Justin Smoak, who was the cutoff man. It allowed Shin-Soo Choo to score the Indians’ fifth run.
“All we have to do is play catch right there and they’re not going to advance,” Wedge said.
n The Mariners managed only two hits through six innings off Tomlin and didn’t score until Smoak’s sacrifice fly in the fourth. By then, the Indians already had six runs.
The Mariners drew closer in the seventh when Langerhans and Saunders hit their homers, but the offense fell silent again in the eighth and ninth, retired in order by left-hander Tony Sipp and closer Chris Perez.
The Mariners have a .217 team batting average, a .288 on-base percentage and a .315 slugging percentage. They also have a manager.
“We’ll most definitely be a better hitting team this year,” Wedge promised. “I’ve said that all along and I feel that. We’re going to work to put up better at-bats, make better outs, make pitchers work. We’ve shown signs of that the first week, but we still lack consistency with that. We’re going to be a better-hitting team than what you’re seeing right now.”
Langerhans, batting .176, leads the team with two home runs.
“I’d trade ’em to be 7-2 instead of the other way around,” Langerhans said. “The timing has been really unfortunate. If we’d gone 0-6 on the road, then come home and taken 2-of-3, the feeling would be a lot different.”
Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com/marinersblog and follow his Twitter updates on the team at @kirbyarnold.
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