By Kirby Arnold
Herald Writer
SEATTLE – Another bullpen meltdown by the Seattle Mariners.
What is this, ESPN Classic?
Norm Charlton threw a wild pitch with the bases loaded in the eighth inning and Jose Paniagua gave up three hits and two runs after getting two out in the ninth as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Mariners 6-5 Thursday night at Safeco Field.
Nobody said anything about this being Turn Back the Clock Night, but for the third time this week the Mariners coughed up a late-inning lead like Seattle teams of yore.
A 3-3 tie quickly turned into a 6-3 deficit after Toronto scored once in the eighth and twice in the ninth.
The Mariners made one last push in the ninth, loading the bases with two outs against Toronto closer Billy Koch, then pulling within a run when Edgar Martinez’s broken-bat bloop single to left field scored Stan Javier and Ichiro Suzuki.
Mark McLemore stood on third when John Olerud, whose home run in the sixth inning tied the score 3-3, grounded out to shortstop to end the game.
“We had a pretty good hitter at home plate with men on base, but we fell short,” manager Lou Piniella said.
All it really cost the Mariners was a one-game dent in the American League West Division standings, which they lead by 18 over the Oakland A’s.
Silver linings are easier to find when a night of pitching pratfalls – Freddy Garcia’s 11-hit yield in seven-plus innings, Charlton’s run-scoring wild pitch and Paniagua’s ninth-inning problems – mean little over the long haul.
“It was a battle for Freddy,” pitching coach Bryan Price said. “Toronto did a nice job hitting. They laid off some nice pitches with two strikes. On the whole, I thought he did a great job.”
On Charlton: “Forkball,” Price said. “When the ball drops that far in front of the plate, it’s hard block it. Danny (Wilson) did all he could do.”
And of Paniagua, who struck out two of the three batters he faced before Stewart and Carlos Delgado singled and Chris Latham drove them home with a double to deep center field: “That was tough for him,” Price said. “But there were three positive things he did. One, we saw some arm strength. He threw a lot of pitches in the 94-96 (mph) range. Two, he threw some good strikes. And three, he used all his pitches. It was a split (to Latham) that wound up over Cameron’s head, but by throwing that pitch it helps keep the hitters off his fastball.”
A one-run defeat may never have seemed so satisfying.
Garcia kept the game close, aided greatly by three Mariner double plays and Dan Wilson’s throw to second that caught Brad Fullmer on a steal attempt in the sixth inning.
The Blue Jays scored single runs in the first, third and fourth innings, but the Mariners matched that with a run in the first (on Martinez’s RBI single), one in the fourth (Carlos Guillen’s sacrifice fly) and one in the sixth (Olerud’s 15th home run of the season).
After an error by third baseman David Bell on a tough high-hopper by Stewart opened the seventh, Garcia couldn’t get another out. Delgado and Latham each singled to load the bases, and Piniella pulled Charlton from the bullpen.
Charlton’s first pitch to pinch-hitter Tony Fernandez, a forkball, dive-bombed into the dirt in front of the plate, bounced from Wilson and allowed Stewart to score easily with the tying run.
Charlton later got Fernandez on a grounder to third that, minus the wild pitch, would have been a double-play ball. Charlton then struck out Felipe Lopez but walked Darrin Fletcher.
Paniagua took over, struck out Homer Bush to preserve the one-run lead, then got the first two outs in the ninth before running into trouble.
Martinez, who reached the 1,000 RBI mark Wednesday, had three Thursday and nearly added two more with two outs in the seventh inning. With the bases loaded against Toronto reliever Paul Quantrill, Martinez lashed a line drive to right field that had just enough air time for Latham to reach.
“He’s swinging the bat well,” Piniella said of Martinez, who played just his sixth game after coming off the disabled list with a strained quad muscle. “Running … well, he’s Edgar.”
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