SEATTLE — Someday, the Seattle Mariners see Jeff Clement, Yuniesky Betancourt and Wladimir Balentien as three of the toughest outs in their lineup.
Wednesday night, they were young hitters who became playthings for Texas Rangers veteran Vicente Padilla in a 2-0 victory over the Mariners.
With a two-run lead to protect, the Rangers’ right-hander walked the first two hitters in the seventh inning, then struck out Clement, Betancourt and Balentien in order.
It ended the best scoring threat in another frustrating game for the offensively dysfunctional Mariners.
The Mariners haven’t scored since Ichiro Suzuki’s RBI double in the fifth inning Tuesday, a drought of 13 straight innings. Since then, in fact, they’ve had only five hits, and three of those were in the seventh inning of Tuesday’s game.
“It’s a grind right now,” said manager John McLaren, who was ejected in the second inning after commenting on plate umpire Mark Wegner’s strike zone. “We’re not swinging the bats very well and it seems when we do hit the ball hard, it’s right at somebody.”
Besides timely hits, the Mariners also were missing first baseman Richie Sexson and DH Jose Vidro. Sexson left the ballpark before the game to deal with a family emergency and Vidro wasn’t available for a second straight game because of back spasms.
“We were behind the eight ball,” McLaren said.
The only inning of hope was the seventh, when Padilla walked Raul Ibanez and Adrian Beltre with nobody out.
Then he carved up Clement, Betancourt and Balentien with the help of a tailing 96 mph fastball and, if you ask the Mariners, an extra wide strike zone by Wegner, the plate umpire.
Wegner’s calls already had agitated McLaren, who made like Miguel Batista and was out of the game early. McLaren barked from the dugout after David Murphy’s leadoff single in the second inning and Wegner ejected him.
“He thought I said something I didn’t say,” McLaren said. “All I was doing was asking about opening the strike zone up.”
Padilla, who set a season high with eight strikeouts in seven innings, was throwing as much heat in the seventh as he was the first. He needed it after putting Ibanez and Beltre on base to start his final inning.
Clement struck out on three pitches — a called first strike on a pitch that looked outside to everyone but the umpire, a foul and then a called third strike on a fastball that, in Wegner’s eyes, tailed back over the plate.
“I didn’t think it was a strike, but I’ve had a few of those these last few days,” said Clement, who is batting .130.
Betancourt struck out looking at another fastball over the outside corner for the second out and Balentien swung through a 96 mph fastball on a full count to end the inning.
Until that inning, the Mariners’ only other baserunners were Ichiro Suzuki, who was hit by a pitch in the first and singled in the sixth, and Betancourt, who singled with one out in the second but was wiped on when Balentien hit into a double play.
Whether it was Padilla, the struggling offense, the strike zone or all of them together, another quality outing by M’s starter Erik Bedard meant nothing.
Bedard gave up five hits in seven innings, touched only in the fourth inning when Brandon Boggs hit an RBI triple to the left-center field gap for the first run of the game, then in the sixth when Milton Bradley pulled a fastball over the left-field fence.
That homer gave the Rangers a two-run lead, which has been a cloak to any chance of a Mariners comeback. They’re now 0-16 when they trail by two runs at any point in a game this season.
“We’re being challenged here,” McLaren said. “We’re just going through a real tough stretch right now.”
Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
