We all may come down with pneumonia after another cold night at Safeco Field, but in a way it was a get-well performance for the Mariners in their 13-3 victory over the Tigers.
Particularly for the hitters.
The Mariners set season highs with 13 runs, 15 hits and 11 walks. They batted a
round in the first and seventh innings, and scored multiple runs in four innings _ four in the first, two in the fourth, five in the seventh and two in the eighth.
For me, one of the most valuable players in this one was reliever Jamey Wright, who relieved starter Doug Fister with the bases loaded in the seventh, one out, a run already home and the Tigers one big swing from tying the score.
Wright threw a 90 mph fastball that Brandon Inge grounded to second base, where Jack Wilson started a double play. One pitch, two outs and Fister could exhale into the frosty night.
So could the hitters, who scored five in the seventh to put the game away.
“It was nice to see the guys break out today,” manager Eric Wedge said. “We put up some quality at-bats, timely hitting and two-out knocks.”
The Tigers certainly helped with those 11 walks, but we’ve seen the free-swinging Mariners of previous years not let wayward control get in the way of some fizzled rallies. So give these Mariners some credit. Maybe Wedge’s insistence that his hitters be aggressive but smart at the plate, and that they finish off opportunities to score, is taking hold.
Besides increasing their American League-leading walks total to 79, the Mariners pushed their puny team batting average from .217 to .229 and raised their team on-base percentage from .301 to .317.
Ichiro Suzuki, who entered the game with a .250 average, went 4-for-5 with a walk, two RBI and three runs. He’s now batting .286.
Chone Figgins went 3-for-4 with a walk, a sacrifice fly, four RBI and three runs. He entered the game batting .150 and raised it to .188.
“Those two guys up top, they’re the ones who need to get it going,” Wedge said. “You’ve seen both of them start to move in the right direction.”
There was more.
Michael Saunders, batting .182 entering the game, went 3-for-5, scored twice and pushed his average to .237.
And Gimenez, the backup catcher who started at first base after Justin Smoak left the team on bereavement leave, finished 2-for-3 with two walks. And, of course, Gimenez’s key two-run, two-out single after it appeared the Tigers might wiggle out of the first inning by allowing only two runs.
“For Chris to get that knock for us, it was a difference-maker early in the ballgame,” Wedge said. “Then we continued to see guys put together good at-bats.”
The biggest downer of the night was the news that came midway through the game – that Smoak’s father, 54-year-old Keith Smoak, had died of lung cancer. That’s a brutal thing for anyone to deal with, and when it’s a 24-year-old like Smoak, whose father taught him so much about hitting as a kid, it makes a ballgame – win big or lose in frustrating fashion – seem pretty small.
One last note:
Injured closer David Aardsma allowed two hits, two walks and two runs tonight in his first injury rehab outing with the Class AAA Tacoma Rainiers. Facing Colorado Springs in the eighth inning, Aardsma threw 22 pitches, 10 for strikes. Mike Jacobs hit a two-run homer off him after a leadoff walk.
The Cheney Stadium gun, which veteran observers there consider a little suspect, had him at 90-93 mph with his fastball. The key is that Aardsma felt strong and had no problems with his surgically repaired left hip on a cold night. Here’s a Tweet he just sent out:
“Hip felt great. I was so excited to get out there again. Not the results I wanted the important thing is I felt great.”
You can follow Aardsma at @TheDA53.
And while you’re at it, I Tweet a lot of pregame and in-game information and thoughts at @kirbyarnold. I’ll get back with you there and on the blog tomorrow morning for the series finale against the Tigers (Erik Bedard vs. Rick Porcello).
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