SEATTLE — The game can seem so easy sometimes.
The Seattle Mariners have been aching for a day when bloops fall in the outfield,
bleeders stay fair and they find the right combination of hitting, pitching and defense.
After nearly two weeks of painful losses and what’s-going-on-here looks on the Mariners’ faces, Sunday was their day.
They beat the Chicago White Sox 6-3 at Safeco Field, ending a five-game losing streak. It was their second victory in the past 12 games.
“This is going to be a battle, and as soon as we can start feeling good about ourselves, then we can take off,” manager John McLaren said. “I think we’re starting to feel better about ourselves.”
It’s not only because of the ultimate feel-good reason — a victory — that McLaren actually was smiling again. For the second straight day, the Mariners’ approach at the plate resulted in quality at-bats, 13 hits and six runs.
When Raul Ibanez hit a two-run homer into the second deck in right field in the third inning, it put the Mariners ahead 3-2. It was their first lead in six games, when they beat the Rangers 7-3 on Monday to also end a five-game losing streak.
Ichiro Suzuki went 3-for-4, pulling his batting average up 12 points to .292; Jose Lopez went 3-for-4 and is batting .303; and Yuniesky Betancourt, back in the lineup after being benched Saturday because he’d been swinging wildly and giving away at-bats, went 2-for-4 and drove in two runs with his double in the fourth inning. That gave the M’s a 5-2 lead.
Even Miguel Cairo, the seldom-used utility player who started his second straight game at first base because of Richie Sexson’s suspension, got a hit. His double to right field in the eighth inning gave the Mariners a three-run lead, 6-3, going into the ninth.
“The results are what we’re all judged by, but the approach is what gives you the results,” Ibanez said. “I like the approach that we’re showing.”
It may not be a coincidence that the Mariners have put together better at-bats in the two games following a players-only meeting. That occurred before their game Saturday, when several players expressed that whatever happens, they win or lose together and no part of the team is more responsible than another.
“It’s not one group. We do this as a team, we pull for each other,” Ibanez said. “The focus tends to be on wherever you’re struggling, and we all know where that was. It’s always good when guys voice how they feel. Now you’re conscious of certain things. That meeting was good for us.”
Mariners starter Miguel Batista, who gave up six runs in 2 1⁄3 innings in his last outing, started this one just as poorly but pulled himself out of it.
He allowed four hits and two runs in a 17-minute first half inning, when he threw 33 pitches. In the first inning of his past two games, Batista has thrown 77 pitches and needed 41 minutes to get out of it.
Batista pitched with multiple runners on base in four of the next five innings but escaped by allowing one more run on Carlos Quentin’s single in the sixth.
That made the score 5-3 and set up an impressive finish by the Mariners’ bullpen.
Arthur Rhodes got the final two outs in the sixth, Sean Green pitched a perfect seventh and Brandon Morrow gave up a one-out infield single in the eighth before striking out the next two, including Jim Thome on a 97 mph full-count fastball.
J.J. Putz, in his first save opportunity since April 22, pitched around a walk in the ninth to record his third save.
“We need to keep building, keep fighting, whatever,” McLaren said. “We have a good ballclub. Things haven’t gone well, but we believe in ourselves.”
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.
