SEATTLE — They were only 11 pitches among nearly 150 thrown by the Seattle Mariners on Sunday, but those 11 might have gone a long way toward setting the future of the Mariners’ pitching.
The Mariners have waited patiently for J.J. Putz to pitch like his old self again and, in an 8-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles at Safeco Field, he did with 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
It was Putz’s best outing since he came off the disabled list July 20, and it put the Mariners one step closer to making a starter out of Brandon Morrow.
Morrow has filled the closer role during Putz’s absence, saving 10 games. But, with the Mariners far from contention and looking at their future, they’d like to send Morrow to Class AAA Tacoma to stretch him out, then bring him back as a starter.
The key is for Putz to give the Mariners confidence he can close again, and Sunday he felt stronger and more consistent with his pitches than he has in months.
“March 31,” Putz said, looking at a calendar to remember the last time he felt this strong, this sharp.
He recorded his first save against the Texas Rangers in the season opener that day, but the rest of his season was hardly the same. He blew a save in the next game and went on the disabled list one day after that because of a ribcage problem. Then, after an up-and-down six weeks, Putz landed back on the DL June 13 because of a hyperextended right elbow.
He’s finally feeling strong again, and his next challenge is to do it in back-to-back games.
“I understand where those guys are at as far as =what this team is looking for these last two months,” Putz said. “I think today was a really big step in getting back to making that decision.”
Manager Jim Riggleman said before Sunday’s game that the plan to make Morrow a starter is waiting on Putz. Once he’s ready, Morrow will go to Tacoma and build his pitch count so he can last at least five innings.
“We want him to start, throw his bullpen, start, throw his bullpen, start,” Riggleman said. “He needs to show that his arm is rebounding. The bullpen session for those guys is important. That’s the time they work on things, work on location, fine-tuning a pitch. That’s important stuff.”
Important stuff Sunday, besides Putz and Morrow, was Silva’s best start since July 13 and the Mariners’ late scoring to come from behind and win.
Silva, who hadn’t pitched past the third inning in each of his past two starts, gave up four hits and two runs in the second, then a home run to Brian Roberts leading off the third, giving the Orioles a 3-2 lead.
Unlike those past starts, Silva rebounded and retired nine of the next 10 Orioles.
“I like the way he kept his composure,” Riggleman said. “He really competed for us. He kept us in the ballgame.”
It gave the Mariners a chance to come back, although they didn’t do it in time to give Silva his first victory since June 28.
Behind 4-3 after the Orioles scored in the top of the sixth, the Mariners tied it when Jose Lopez hit a high fly off the left-field foul pole for his ninth home run. Then they rallied in the eighth to beat Orioles starter Daniel Cabrera.
Brian LaHair led off with a walk and Jeff Clement bounced an infield single over the pitcher’s mound.
That brought shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt to the plate with obvious instructions to drop a sacrifice bunt. It also dredged up the memory of Betancourt’s last bunt attempt, when he couldn’t sacrifice last Monday in Texas and was benched the next day.
This time Betancourt pulled off perhaps the rarest moment of the Mariners’ season. Not a bunt, but a four-pitch walk while trying to bunt. It was Betancourt’s seventh walk this season in 382 plate appearances, and it launched the Mariners’ winning rally.
Ichiro Suzuki hit a fielder’s choice grounder that scored a run and, after Jeremy Reed struck out, Raul Ibanez drove home two runs with a single to right field.
“Yuni showed some discipline and he didn’t just stab at something that was thrown up there,” Riggleman said. “He was trying to bunt the runners over but he took the walk and that set up the inning.”
That and Putz’s impressive outing helped the Mariners avoid their 70th loss this season.
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