SEATTLE — Dustin Ackley gave the Seattle Mariners a memorable, majestic swing and then a curtain call to their fans.
But despite another night of high-anxiety baseball Saturday at Safeco Field, that’s all the Mariners could manage in a 5-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Ackley’s second-inning home run, his first as a major leaguer, energized another big crowd _ 35,829. But the Mariners misfired on multiple opportunities to score, including four innings with runners at third base, and lost when the Phillies converted in the late innings to break open a 1-1 tie.
Shane Victorino delivered twice with two outs.
The Phillies’ switch-hitting center fielder sliced a bases-loaded ground-rule double off Mariners starter Felix Hernandez in the seventh inning, the ball landing squarely on the left-field line before bouncing into the stands, to drive home two runs for a 3-1 Phillies lead.
Two innings later, against Mariners reliever Jamey Wright with a runner on base, Victorino drove a fastball into the right-field seats for a two-run homer that all but ended a night of suspense.
“We missed some opportunities early and it really changed the look of the whole game,” Mariners manager Eric Wedge said.
The Phillies scratched a run off Hernandez in the first inning when Jimmy Rollins led off the game with a single, reached second on a wild pitch, third on a ground out and scored on Ryan Howard’s sacrifice fly.
But Ackley erased that lead with one out in the bottom of the second when he worked a full count against Phillies starter Vance Worley, then crushed a fastball deep into the right-field seats.
It was Ackley’s second major-league hit, his first home run, and moments after he crossed home plate Ackley’s teammates pushed him to the top step of the dugouts to acknowledge the fans who continued to cheer.
“Good for him. He’s getting a lot of this stuff out of the way,” Wedge said. “He puts up a good at-bat, gets the barrel on the baseball. He puts up a good consistent approach. When you have that with his type ability, you’re going to give yourself a chance.”
After that, the Mariners reverted back to what they’ve been much of the season offensively. They put runners on base but couldn’t manage another big hit against Worley or the three relievers who followed them.
Worley pitched only one 1-2-3 inning, the sixth, and the Mariners got their hits of him and pushed his pitch count in the five innings he worked.
But, despite having runners as far as third base in the first, second, fifth and sixth innings, they couldn’t score.
The closest was in the second when Mike Carp was tagged out between third and home after bounced to second base with runners on second and third and one out.
“I’ve said it before, but what we need to get back to is doing a better job finishing off innings _ two-out knocks or stringing something together,” Wedge said. “That ‘s what Philly did tonight. They got the big hits in the late innings.”
It took them a while, but the Phillies finally got to Hernandez after he’d escaped trouble in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings.
Hernandez got Ross Gload to hit into a double play after Raul Ibanez had led off the second with a single. Victorino hit a two-out triple in the third before Hernandez got Chase Utley to ground out. Howard led off the fourth with a double, but Hernandez got the next three, including Placido Polanco and Gload with strikeouts. Rollins singled and stole second with two outs in the fifth before Hernandez got Victorino to ground out.
“Felix is about as good as it gets when it comes to working through some trouble and controlling damage,” Wedge said.
He couldn’t escape the seventh, though.
Gload singled with one out, Domonic Brown doubled and, after Carlos Ruiz popped out, Hernandez walked Rollins on a full-count pitch.
He also fell into a full count against Victorino, whose then hit a flare that bounced off the left-field line and scored two runs for a 3-1 Phillies lead. Two innings later, against Wright, Victorino connected on another two-out two-strike pitch, a fastball, that he hit for his eighth home run.
It made for another tough inning for Wright, who has continued to struggle after being one of the Mariners’ most reliable relievers the first month of the season.
He had a 0.73 ERA after 13 appearances in April, but it’s now at 3.38. This month alone, Wright has allowed eight earned runs in 5 1/3 innings.
Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com/marinersblog and follow his Twitter updates at @kirbyarnold.
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