If the Mariners could package everything it takes to win a game, Monday’s performance in their 7-3 victory over the Rangers would serve as the good place to start.
They showed patience at the plate — that’s a relative term with this team, because I can’t recall too many pitches that Yuniesky Betancourt didn’t swing at. Still, the more-patient Mariners didn’t make life easy on Rangers starter Kevin Millwood, and as a result they got pitches to drive. Richie Sexson and Wladimir Balentien both homered in the Mariners’ four-run third inning, which ended Millwood’s night.
They got quality starting pitching, from Jarrod Washburn of all guys. It’s usually Washburn whose pitch count is driven up quickly by a patient hitting approach. Monday, he challenged the Rangers with his fastball and kept them off-kilter with a nice curve. Of his 87 pitches through six-plus innings, all but 30 were strikes.
Of course, even a Mariners victory has its dark side this season, and that happened in the seventh when Washburn came out of the game with a stiff right calf. He felt it while warming up before the game, then felt it pop on his last pitch of the sixth inning.
The Mariners believe it’s not serious and Washburn won’t miss a start, although he said he was hurting pretty bad after the game and he would know more about his status on Tuesday. The Mariners can only hope Washburn’s injury turns out as good as MIguel Batista (groin) and Carlos Silva (quad), who left outings early because of injuries but made their next starts. Of the five starters, only Felix Hernandez has been unscathed this season.
Finally, the pitching behind Washburn was solid. Sean Green gaveup a double in the seventh but got three outs to stop the Rangers in that inning, plus three strikeouts in the eighth.
Then closer J.J. Putz, still shaking off the rust after his stint on the disabled list in April, pitched around two hits in a scoreless ninth. Putz has struggled to locate his fastball, and it was here one pitch and there another pitch this time. He threw numerous splitters, but also tossed in enough 95 mph fastballs to show he’s getting back to form.
By Kirby Arnold
Herald Writer
SEATTLE _ It wasn’t quite an episode of “Jarrod Washburn, this is your life.” But what he saw from the Seattle Mariners’ dugout Monday night was frighteningly familiar.
On the mound, Texas Rangers pitcher Kevin Millwood suffered what Washburn had experienced too often already this season. He would fall behind in the count against a patient group of hitters, then find himself out of the game early as his pitch count soared.
This time, the Mariners’ hitters were doing it to Millwood, and it led to a 7-3 victory over the Rangers at Safeco Field that ended a five-game losing streak.
Talk about a turnaround.
The Mariners’ beleaguered hitters not only produced 10 hits and seven runs, they produced their first multiple-homer game since April 24. Richie Sexson hit a solo home run and Wladimir Balentien followed with a three-run drive in the third inning, when the M’s scored four times.
Millwood, who had pitched six or more innings in six of his previous seven starts, was finished after three.
“The guys did a great job being patient and waiting for a good pitch to hit, and when they got that hit they didn’t miss it,” said Washburn, who has known the feeling too well. He hadn’t made it to the sixth in half of his six previous starts. “They made Millwood throw a lot of pitches those first three innings. When they got a mistake, they capitalized on it.”
It started in the first inning when Ichiro Suzuki led off with a double, Jose Lopez singled and Raul Ibanez hit a two-run double. Lopez hit an RBI single in the second for a 3-0 lead, and the big bats finally emerged for the Mariners in the third.
Sexson drove a fastball over the center field fence for his seventh homer this season and, after Jeff Clement walked and Kenji Johjima singled, Balentien launched a fastball into the Rangers’ bullpen beyond the left-field fence. It was his second homer since being called up from Class AAA Tacoma last week.
“I tried to do too much the first couple of games after I came up,” said Balentien, who entered Monday with a .167 average and seven strikeouts in 18 at-bats. “I was swinging at everything. Tonight was different. I was looking for my pitch and not the pitcher’s pitch.”
Washburn went about protecting the seven-run lead with a well-placed fastball, a curve that kept the Rangers off balance, and a secret.
His right calf was killing him.
Washburn felt a twinge in the calf while he was warming up before the game and he told pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre to keep an eye on his mechanics.
Everything seemed fine as Washburn carved through the Rangers in the first five innings, allowing only German Duran’s two-out single in the third. Then in the sixth, on a pitch that Ian Kinsler hit into a double play, Washburn felt a pop.
“Like an idiot, I tried pitching through it,” he said.
He went back out for the seventh and gave up three straight hits, including Milton Bradley’s two-run double, before Stottlemyre, manager John McLaren and a trainer went to the mound.
Trainers told McLaren that Washburn should be able to make his next start, but Washburn said he’ll have a better idea today. It’s the same calf he injured two years ago when he missed most of the final month.
Already this season, four of the Mariners’ five starters have either missed a start or been lifted early because of injury. Only Felix Hernandez has remained healthy while Erik Bedard spent time on the disabled list with a bad hip, Miguel Batista left a start after one inning because of a sore groin and Carlos Silva suffered a tight quad during one outing. All but Bedard made their next starts.
Sean Green got three outs in the seventh, then struck out the side in the eighth, before closer J.J. Putz pitched the ninth in a non-save situation.
It finished a victory that the Mariners hope is a start to better things after they’d fallen six games below .500. They’re now 14-19.
“Hopefully we can get this thing snowballing,” McLaren said. “Right now, our thoughts are .500. Let’s get to .500 and we’re out of the hole, and then we’ll go from there.”
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.
