SEATTLE – The Texas Rangers were one big swing away from extending their winning streak against the Seattle Mariners, and Joel Pineiro didn’t let them have it.
Pineiro, with a streak of his own to maintain, kept the Rangers quiet and, most importantly, in the ballpark Tuesday night in a 4-3 Mariners victory at Safeco Field.
Holding one of baseball’s best power teams without a homer is an accomplishment in itself. Limiting the Rangers to five hits in seven innings, well, that’s what Pineiro has become this month.
He started the season 1-7 and looked less than mediocre in doing it, then matched up against Roger Clemens on June 8 and learned something about pitching with an attitude. The Astros beat him 1-0 that night, but Pineiro hasn’t been the same pitcher since.
“After that Clemens game, you could tell he’s had a little more determination,” Mariners manager Bob Melvin said.
Determination on Tuesday translated into 20 first-pitch strikes to the 29 hitters Pineiro faced. He got ahead in the count with his fastball and kept his breaking pitches down in the zone where the Rangers couldn’t unleash their home-run swings.
For one night, at least, it worked. The victory ended Texas’ seven-game winning streak against the Mariners.
“When he needed to make a pitch with his slider or his curveball, he was low or lower than low in the strike zone,” pitching coach Bryan Price said. “You’re not going to get that if you’re pitching behind in the count.”
Tuesday’s victory made Pineiro 3-0 in the four starts since the Clemens game, with a 2.79 earned run average in 29 innings.
“I’ve been aggressive, I’ve been myself,” Pineiro said. “I’m not trying to paint the corners, not trying to throw that nice and easy breaking ball. I’m throwing it hard, throwing my fastball in where I need to. That’s what’s changed.”
That, and his record. Pineiro has turned his onetime 1-7 mark into 4-8.
Tuesday, he matched his season high with nine strikeouts and found trouble only in the third and fourth innings. The Mariners contributed to some of that themselves.
Jason Conti led off the third with a double to right field and Michael Young followed with a triple into the right-field corner that scored the first run of the game.
Pineiro struck out Hank Blalock and Alfonso Soriano, and was having his way with Brad Fullmer. Pineiro threw a fastball in the dirt that bounced away from catcher Miguel Olivo, who was making his first start since Sunday’s Freddy Garcia trade, and Young scored for a 2-0 lead.
Pineiro struck out Herbert Perry to start the fourth – his fourth straight strikeout – and seemed on the way to an easy inning when David Dellucci hit a high popup near the pitcher’s mound.
First baseman John Olerud drifted under the ball, but so did third baseman Scott Spiezio. They made just enough contact to knock the ball from Olerud’s glove for an error. Gary Matthews Jr. hit a ground-rule double that put runners on second and third, and Rod Barajas hit a sacrifice fly that scored Dellucci for a 3-0 lead.
Pineiro settled himself after that and retired nine straight before Young singled with two outs in the seventh.
The only question was whether the Mariners would give Pineiro enough run support to make his effort worthwhile.
This time, they did against Rangers starter Joaquin Benoit.
Jolbert Cabrera doubled with one out in the fourth, hustled to third on a passed ball and scored on Bret Boone’s bloop single to right field.
The score stayed 3-1 until the sixth, when Cabrera hit a bloop to center field that he turned into a hustling double. Edgar Martinez dumped a single into shallow right that put runners on first and third, and Boone followed with a sacrifice fly to deep center.
John Olerud flied to left for the second out before Rich Aurilia hit Benoit’s first pitch well over the left-field fence for his fourth home run of the season, a two-run blow that gave the Mariners a 4-3 lead.
“Big hits are what win games a lot of times when a guy’s pitching well,” Melvin said.
Pineiro got through the seventh, Shigetoshi Hasegawa pitched around a leadoff single by Soriano in the eighth and closer Eddie Gaurdado worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his 15th save.
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