Iwakuma, Ramirez get day of rest
Mariners relief pitchers Erasmo Ramirez and Hisashi Iwakuma both received a day off on Saturday after pitching long relief in Friday’s 7-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
Ramirez entered the game in relief of starter Hector Noesi in the second inning, pitching 32/3 innings giving up no runs and one hit. Iwakuma, who made his major league debut, went the rest of the way, giving up one run on one hit, a solo home run by Adam Dunn, in four innings.
Iwakuma became the last player that was on an opening day roster (that was not optioned down or placed on the disabled list) to appear in a game.
“They will both be down today,” Wedge said before Saturday’s game. “But they really picked us up. You wonder why you save an Iwakuma and he doesn’t pitch for a while, it’s because we’ve been in every game. I’m here to tell you, with the way this sport is, you try to get him in there for an inning and chances are your starter is going to get blown up when you need him and you end up running through everyone else that you don’t want to pitch. So that’s why you hang on to him.”
Season’s longest streak
White Sox starting pitcher Phillip Humber’s perfect game on Saturday sent the Mariners to their third straight loss, the team’s longest losing streak so far this season.
Wedge said that in the course of a long season, losing — and winning — streaks are going to happen and that his team needs to stay the course.
“You lose 60 games in this sport and you are winning 102,” Wedge said. “So, there is a lot of tough times that you have to handle. So you’ve got to stay positive. It’s what I do. It’s what I believe you have to do. You’ve got to be optimistic. You’ve got to believe in what you are doing, believe in your plan, believe in yourself and stay the course. And that’s the discipline.”
Quick hits
Mariners starting pitcher Blake Beavan continued to exhibit great control on Saturday. In his first 18 career starts, Beavan has walked just 17 batters. Beavan has the fewest amount of walks issued to start a career since Roy Oswalt, who issued 16 walks in his first 18 starts. … Catcher John Jaso saw his streak of games with an RBI end at three on Saturday. Jaso had an RBI in each of the three games he had previously played in — all starts — until Saturday when he flied out to right field as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning.
Aaron Lommers, Herald Writer
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