SEATTLE — It has taken a while, but patience is paying off for the Seattle Mariners.
The team that strived all last season for better at-bats in order to drive up opposing pitch counts and create scoring opportunities is doing it now. And, partly because of it, the Mariners have a two-game winning streak.
They beat the Oakland A’s 4-2 Wednesday night at Safeco Field when the power of the walk — followed by the timely hit and some strong starting pitching — produced their fourth victory in 10 games this season.
Milton Bradley followed his three-run homer Tuesday night with a two-run single Wednesday to tie the score 2-2 in the fifth inning, and the Mariners pulled ahead in the sixth on RBI singles by Franklin Gutierrez and Jose Lopez.
And on the mound, the Mariners got a second straight no-walk performance from their starting pitcher, this time by Jason Vargas. He held the A’s to five hits and only Jake Fox’s two-run homer in the second inning, and retired 15 of the final 17 hitters he faced.
Both of the Mariners’ rallies were set up by walks against A’s starter Gio Gonzalez, including two by the master of that craft, No. 2 hitter Chone Figgins.
Figgins, who led the American League last season with 101 walks, went 1-for-3 but reached base three times with a third-inning single and walks in the fifth and sixth. He has walked six times in the Mariners’ 10 games, including the two Wednesday night that helped set up the Mariners’ run-scoring rallies.
“There was a lot of damage done in the early part of this game as far as getting the pitch count up,” Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said. “Gio had good stuff, but I still thought we had some pretty good at-bats. Any time you can get a walk or a six or seven-pitch at-bat, it taxes the opposing starter. It was tremendous.”
With Vargas having settled in after Fox’s homer, the Mariners worked on Gonzalez and, after some baserunning misadventures early in the game, scored in the fifth inning.
Bradley, who’d rounded third base too far and was tagged for the final out of the second inning, shattered his bat but looped a single into left field with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth.
That scored Ichiro Suzuki and Figgins, who had pulled off something seldom seen lately. They reached base in the same inning for the first time since Saturday at Texas. This time, Suzuki dribbled an infield single in front of the plate — breaking an 0-for-13 stretch — and Figgins worked a walk against Gonzalez.
Gutierrez followed with a walk and, after Jose Lopez popped out, Bradley delivered his single to tie the score 2-2.
That forced the A’s to pull Gonzalez after 99 pitches only 42/3 innings into the game.
Adam Moore pushed an opposite-single to right to lead off the bottom of the sixth and, after Jack Wilson’s sacrifice bunt and a strikeout by Suzuki, Figgins kept the inning going by drawing a walk against A’s reliever Chad Gaudin. Gutierrez followed with an RBI single to left and Lopez an opposite-field single to right that made the score 4-2.
Again, Figgins’ patience made a difference.
“We talked about that before the season began, the impact that Chone Figgins can have,” Wakamatsu said. “He set the tone. He had a couple of walks and that tends to be contagious. We battled better.”
So did Vargas, who gave up eight hits and five runs in 51/3 innings in a 6-2 loss Friday at Texas.
“I didn’t feel any different other than I was able to throw more strikes early in the count,” Vargas said.
The secret ingredient may have been a cut fastball that Vargas introduced into his repertoire. It kept the A’s off-kilter, especially their right-handed hitters.
“You can’t always beat the big guys with fastballs in,” Vargas said. “To throw them something that looks the same with somewhat the same velocity with a little movement helps.”
After escaping a two-on, two-out jam in the fourth by striking out Gabe Gross, Vargas didn’t allow a baserunner in the fifth and sixth innings.
Wakamatsu pulled Vargas even though he was cruising on only 89 pitches and the bullpen was somewhat gimpy because reliever Mark Lowe had a tight back.
Right-hander Brandon League pitched both the seventh and eighth, walking one, and David Aardsma carved through the A’s with a perfect ninth. He got Kurt Suzuki on a fly to center, Kevin Kouzmanoff on a strikeout and Jake Fox on a grounder to go 4-for-4 in save opportunities.
Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com/marinersblog
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