Moyer leads M’s to sweep of Giants

  • By Kirby Arnold / Herald Writer
  • Sunday, June 18, 2006 9:00pm
  • Sports

SEATTLE – Jamie Moyer muscled up and threw the pitch of his life.

At least that’s what the Safeco Field scoreboard showed Sunday after he struck out Barry Bonds with a cut fastball in the sixth inning. The radar gun reading was 89 mph.

“I think it caught his bat speed,” said Moyer, who may have thrown 89 in his dreams but never in a game. “I can’t throw a fastball at 89, so do you think I can throw a cutter at 89?”

What the rest of the scoreboards showed was no glitch.

Behind another quality outing from Moyer – who made his 500th career start – and timely hitting throughout the lineup, the Mariners beat the Giants 5-1 to sweep the three-game series.

These have become the sweep-or-nothing Mariners, having been involved in sweeps of their past three series. They won two of those, giving them victories in nine of their past 13 games and 12 of 17.

In an American League West Division that is rising from its own ashes, the Mariners’ perfect weekend didn’t gain them any ground in the standings. They remain five games behind the Oakland A’s, who have won 10 straight.

Moyer is 4-6 with a steadily dropping ERA of 3.58, and he not only beat a Giants team that has given him trouble over the years, he finally got the best of Barry Bonds.

The last time Bonds had homered off Moyer was 1991, when Moyer was a 28-year-old trying to stick around with the St. Louis Cardinals. Bonds popped Moyer for two home runs and a triple on May 21, 1991, at Pittsburgh.

“I got sent down after that,” said Moyer, who didn’t reach the major leagues again until 1993 with the Orioles. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes to him in the past.”

Bonds had three chances Sunday and barely made contact.

Moyer struck him out on three pitches in the first inning, Bonds popped a fly to left field on the first pitch he saw in the fourth, and Moyer fanned him in the sixth when he threw the cutter that registered 89 on the scoreboard.

By then, the Mariners led 4-1.

Moyer had given up a leadoff homer in the first inning to former South Kitsap High School star Jason Ellison, then allowed only one runner as far as second base the rest of his outing.

“Jamie doesn’t succeed on power,” manager Mike Hargrove said. “He’s as good as any pitcher I’ve had at understanding how to adjust to what hitters are trying to take away from him. If he has command of his pitches, he will pitch like he did today.”

Moyer said he didn’t have his best stuff, but after the home-run pitch to Ellison he did a better job of staying off the middle of the plate.

“I was just trying to get ahead of hitters and force some contact,” he said. “I felt good but it wasn’t the best I’ve felt.”

The Mariners backed him with three runs in the third inning when they were playing for one off Giants starter Jamey Wright.

Willie Bloomquist started the inning with a single and Yuniesky Betancourt dropped a sacrifice bunt that pushed him to second. Wright struck out Ichiro Suzuki, but Adrian Beltre ripped a single off Wright’s foot that scored Bloomquist. After Beltre reached third on Wright’s throwing error, Raul Ibanez drove him in with a single.

Beltre homered in the fifth, his sixth this season, and the Mariners added their final run in the eighth when Jeremy Reed singled and scored after back-to-back singles by Betancourt and Suzuki.

Suzuki, who went 2-for-4 and raised his average to .365, pushed his hitting streak to 18 games, matching his season high. It’s the longest in the major leagues this season.

J.J. Putz, who struck out Bonds on Friday to end a one-run victory, got him again for the final out Sunday when Bonds swung through a 98 mph fastball for strike three.

It gave the Mariners a 6-0 interleague record – all home games – and sent them off on a nine-game interleague road trip, beginning Tuesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“Our starting pitching has been good all season, but the last two or three weeks we’ve really pitched well,” Hargrove said. “We’re getting big hits and good aggressive baserunning, and things are coming together right now. We need to keep it that way.”

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