SEATTLE — Adam Jones is the celebrated prospect in the Seattle Mariners’ minor league system, a former first-round draft pick tabbed as a star of the future.
Another first-rounder has bashed his way into view this week.
Jeff Clement, a catcher who the Mariners drafted in the first round in 2005, hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning Friday, giving the Mariners a 6-4 victory over the Texas Rangers.
It was Clement’s second homer this week. Wednesday, his ninth-inning pinch-hit homer tied the second game of a doubleheader that the Mariners went on to win against the Cleveland Indians.
That game earned Clement two straight starts at designated hitter, and he delivered both times. He had two hits and scored a run Thursday, and Friday he walked and scored in the Mariners’ three-run sixth inning, then delivered the biggest blow of the game in the ninth.
Adrian Beltre had singled to lead off the ninth and, after Rangers reliever Mike Wood retired Raul Ibanez and Jose Guillen, Clement came to bat.
Clement drove a 2-1 pitch over the center field fence to win the game and set off a big celebration when he reached the plate.
“Jeff has come through for us big-time,” manager John McLaren said. “He’s got some definite thunder in that bat. He’s letting his presence be known.
“We’ve always been extremely high on him. Now we’re getting to see him first-hand. To come into the big arena and do this, it’s very exciting. This kid’s a left-handed hitter who can knock the ball out of the ballpark. That’s big in this ballpark.”
The Mariners won their third straight game and 86th this season, ensuring they’ll finish no worse than 10 games over .500.
Ichiro Suzuki, needing a big surge to challenge for the American League batting lead, was 2-for-5 to leave his average at .350. It all but ended his hope of catching Detroit’s Magglio Ordonez, who was 2-for-4 against the White Sox and bumped his average to .360.
Both of Suzuki’s hits were singles, giving him 200 for the second time in his career. He’s the only major leaguer since 1900 to have 200 singles in a season.
Neither Adrian Beltre nor Jose Guillen drove in a run, leaving each with 99 RBI this season.
For starting pitcher Jeff Weaver, Friday was a chance to leave a final impression in a season that had too many bad ones. He did, pitching eight innings and allowing four runs on nine hits.
In his 27 starts, Weaver has pitched eight or more innings five times, the last on Aug. 12 when he threw a complete game against the White Sox.
In nine outings since, five of them were dismal — 41⁄3 innings, 3, 5, 11⁄3 and 51⁄3 — and came at a time when the Mariners badly needed a veteran starter to stop the slide that pulled them from playoff contention.
Just two hits hurt Weaver on Friday. Michael Young’s two-run single in the third inning gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead, and Travis Metcalf’s two-run homer gave the Rangers a 4-3 lead in the seventh inning after the Mariners had pulled ahead with three runs in the sixth.
Jose Vidro’s RBI single in the eighth tied the score, setting up Clement’s heroic homer — and some hilarity.
As Clement took off on his home run trot, the Mariners spilled from the dugout and sprinted to home plate to greet him when he got there.
Well, all of them except Yuniesky Betancourt. He thought Clement had hit a game-winning double and raced to second base and was just a few feet behind Clement as he circled the bases. It wasn’t until they reached third that Betancourt realized it was a home run and third-base coach Carlos Garcia grabbed him.
McLaren just smiled.
“To be out of it and still have the enthusiasm we have, it’s a special feeling,” McLaren said.
Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com.
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