SEATTLE — The offense that was so often missing on the Mariners’ 2-5 road trip returned Friday night, and the bullpen that has been so shaky minus its closer got the job done as well.
As a result, the Mariners started their five-game home stand with an 8-5 win against AL West rival Los Angeles.
As much as the Mariners wanted a victory against the team thought to be their main competition in the division, they also simply needed a win to take some of the sting out of their east-coast trip.
“We needed this win,” said Mariners manager John McLaren. “We really did… The first game back off the road trip, and really not a good road trip. We needed this for us.”
This win wasn’t easy, and it certainly wasn’t pretty at times, but it was enough.
Unlike many of the Mariners’ losses this season, this game featured a short-handed bullpen holding on in a close game, though not without making the 28,915 at Safeco Field sweat on a chilly April evening.
And unlike many of the recent games, this one featured the Mariners manufacturing some runs without relying on the long ball. Prior to Friday’s game, the Mariners had scored 19 of their last 31 runs via the home run. On Friday, the Mariners scored six of their eight runs without going deep.
Despite having his worst outing in three starts, Felix Hernandez earned his first win of the season. Hernandez was brilliant in his first two starts, allowing no earned runs over 15 innings, but didn’t get a decision either time thanks to a lack of run support.
The young man known as “King Felix” looked mortal Friday, allowing four runs on nine hits in 62/3 innings, but his team’s late offensive outburst helped him earn a win.
“Felix did a nice job, he battled,” McLaren said. “He’s improving each time out. He’s going to be the elite of the elite at some point.”
Raul Ibanez provided the early offense, then the rest of his teammates eventually joined in. Through six inning the Mariners’ only two hits off of Angels starter Jered Weaver were a pair of solo home runs by Ibanez.
After falling behind in the top of the sixth, the Mariners bounced back with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Richie Sexson walked to force in the first run of the inning, then the struggling Brad Wilkerson came through with a two-run single that put the Mariners ahead for good.
Vladimir Guerrero, who had struck out in his first three at bats, chased Hernandez from the game with an RBI single in the seventh, but the Mariners again had an answer in the bottom of the inning in the form of an RBI double by Ibanez, who finished 3 for 4 with a walk.
Kenji Johjima, who has been struggling at the plate, added an RBI double in the eighth and Yunieski Betancourt followed with an RBI triple to give the Mariners a three-run lead heading into the final inning. Seattle entered the bottom of the eighth up just one run after a pair of errors led to an unearned run in the top of the inning.
“We made a couple of errors, but we held it together, that was really key,” said McLaren. “That one inning we make a couple of errors, one was a double-play ball, and we could have unraveled but we pulled it together.”
Those runs gave Mark Lowe some breathing room to earn his first major league save.
“There’s just something about the ninth inning, it’s just different,” said Lowe. “It’s the biggest rush you can have.”
Seconds later, he was rewarded for his effort with a shaving cream pie to the face courtesy of injured closer J.J. Putz.
Hernandez was sharp early, then got out of a jam in the fourth thanks to a great play by Adrian Beltre. With one out runners on first and second, the Mariners’ Gold-Glove third baseman dove to snare a sharply hit Maicer Izturis grounder, got up just in time to tag Garret Anderson who was running towards third, then threw to first to get Izturis for the inning-ending out.
After Ibanez’ second home run of the night gave the Mariners a 2-1 lead in the fourth, the Angels took their first lead of the night with a two-run sixth.
The first run that inning came the same way the game’s first three runs had, on a solo home run, this one by Gary Matthews Jr. But the next run was something of an oddity. Garret Anderson hit soft line drive down the left field line for a one-out double, advanced to third on a Torii Hunter fly out to center, then scored on a Casey Kotchman single that traveled roughly 35 feet down the first baseline. Kotchman go-ahead single was a weak popup that Hernandez nearly caught with a diving effort, but the ball went in and out of his glove as he hit the ground.
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