SEATTLE – It took a lineup turned upside-down by manager Mike Hargrove, but the Seattle Mariners flipped themselves rightside-up Saturday night in the most unlikely way.
They owned a future Hall of Famer.
The Mariners were a much different offense against veteran right-hander Greg Maddux, playing without first baseman Richie Sexson (benched for a day, maybe longer, with his .162 average), shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt (day off) and left fielder Raul Ibanez (sore back).
They were more than Maddux could handle in a 7-4 victory over the San Diego Padres at Safeco Field.
The Mariners’ juggled lineup – with Ben Broussard starting at first, Willie Bloomquist at shortstop and Jason Ellison in left field – hit Maddux like they knew what was coming.
They jumped on pitches early in the count and made hard contact on nearly everything they hit, scoring twice in the first inning, three times in the second, once in the third and once in the fourth.
In the shortest of Maddux’s nine starts this season, he lasted 32/3 innings and allowed seven runs on 12 hits.
“It looked like Greg was up in the middle of the (strike) zone with his pitches,” Hargrove said. “When you do that, you get hit.”
The Mariners revised lineup had 14 hits. Jose Guillen moved into Ibanez’s No. 3 spot in the order and Broussard hit cleanup, where Sexson has floundered.
Hargrove wouldn’t say if he’d stick with that alignment in today’s homestand finale, although he said before the game that Sexson’s time off could extend beyond one game.
“W got 14 hits tonight and played good defense,” Hargrove said. “They did a good job.”
Jose Vidro, a career .318 hitter off Maddux, singled in his first two at-bats and scored twice; Guillen hit a two-run homer his first at-bat and a two-run double in the second inning; and Broussard singled in two of his three at-bats against Maddux.
Guillen now has 22 RBI, second on the team to Ibanez, and is one of four Mariners with five home runs.
“He missed almost all of last year with the Tommy John surgery and didn’t have that many at-bats,” Hargrove said of Guillen. “It takes time to get your feet back and get used to playing baseball at this level. But he’s slowly but surely coming around and he hit the ball hard twice tonight.”
So did third baseman Adrian Beltre, especially in the third inning when he hit a solo home run, his team-high sixth. Ichiro Suzuki single-handedly produced the Mariners’ seventh run in the fourth inning when he singled, stole both second and third, then scored on catcher Rob Bowen’s wild throw.
Broussard’s two-out single in the fourth forced the Padres into their bullpen and ended Maddux’s night. It also halted the Mariners’ offense, which had just two infield hits and three baserunners in the next 41/3 innings off Padres relievers Justin Hampson and Cla Meredith.
By then, the Mariners’ lead seemed safe with their own starter, Horacio Ramirez, pitching more like Maddux than Maddux.
Ramirez, who learned much of his craft from Maddux when they were teammates with the Braves in 2003, allowed seven hits and three runs in six innings. He pitched especially well in the second, third and fourth innings, allowing two baserunners in that span.
“There was a good side of him and a bad side of him,” Hargrove said. “In the middle innings, he got quick out s and threw strikes. Then there were two or three innings when he would get two outs and struggle to get that third out and gave up runs doing it. He pitched well enough to win, but it certainly was interesting.”
Ramirez, who improved to 4-2, hit a wall in the fifth and sixth, when he gave up a run in each inning to make it 7-3, and the Mariners nearly crashed and burned in the seventh.
The rumored control problems of newly acquired reliever Jason Davis became real when he walked two in the seventh, but George Sherrill got a double-play line drive to end the inning, and the beef of the Mariners’ bullpen did the rest.
Brandon Morrow pitched a scoreless eighth inning and J.J. Putz pitched around a walk in the ninth to go 10-for-10 in saves this season.
For a night, the victory stalled the ill feelings that had built during the Mariners’ three-game losing streak. Today, with Felix Hernandez pitching, the Mariners will try to grab something they haven’t experienced in a few days: momentum.
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