SEATTLE — Once the sideshow and chuckles subsided after a catcher took the mound flinging fastballs and spinning sliders in the 15th inning, more serious issues arose after the Seattle Mariners’ 2-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.
Why didn’t Jeff Clement, who’d clubbed two home runs the previous night, get an at-bat while Richie Sexson stumbled through an 0-for-6 performance?
Why did relievers Arthur Rhodes and Brandon Morrow remain on the bullpen bench while backup catcher Jamie Burke pitched the top of the 15th?
And what was Yuniesky Betancourt thinking when he swung away and grounded into a double play in the bottom of the 15th instead of dropping a sacrifice bunt with a runner on first and Ichiro Suzuki coming to bat next?
Play 15 innings, score one run and finish it with a catcher on the mound, and the questions will fly.
Mariners manager Jim Riggleman, in his best opportunity to manage around the strengths, weaknesses and ailments of this roster since taking over for fired skipper John McLaren, admitted he wasn’t sure if his moves were right or wrong.
n On why Sexson continued to get at-bats even though Vidro and Clement were available to pinch-hit:
“Richie was hitting .365 against left-handers so I felt like he was going to get them,” Riggleman said. Instead, Sexson went 0-for-4 against Tigers left-hander Nate Robertson, twice failing after the Tigers intentionally walked Adrian Beltre with a runner on second in order to pitch to Sexson.
Sexson, 0-for-9 since he last got a hit on Thursday, stayed in the game even when the Tigers threw right-handed relievers in extra innings. He grounded out and popped out. Meanwhile, switch-hitting Jose Vidro and left-handed-hitting Clement remained on the bench as Riggleman stared at the possibility he’d run out of position players in addition to pitchers.
“By that time I could see we might end up needing to use a position player to pitch,” Riggleman explained. “If I do, we’re going to lose the DH. If I hit Clement there and he becomes the DH, I don’t have anybody to catch. Burke can pitch but I don’t have anybody to catch. I could have used Vidro I guess, but he was going to be the last guy I had. I don’t know if I was right or wrong.”
n On the dire pitching situation that forced him to put Burke on the mound:
Rhodes woke up with a stiff left arm and couldn’t get loose after trying to warm up before the sixth inning. Riggleman wasn’t about to use Morrow, who’d pitched in four of the previous five games. R.A. Dickey, the knuckleballer who threw 105 pitches Saturday night, stretched in the bullpen during the 14th inning but never threw.
Cesar Jimenez threw four innings and 57 pitches in the Mariners’ best pitching effort of the day, but when the game remained tied through 14 innings, Riggleman was looking for volunteers.
Burke, who’d thrown four emergency innings in his minor league career, said he’d do it. He became the third position player in Mariners history to pitch (the last being outfielder John Mabry in 2000 at Tampa Bay). Clement finally got into the game at catcher.
“I’ll give everything I have to try to put up a zero,” Burke said. “I wanted to throw strikes and make them put it in play and not walk people.”
That much he did, throwing his fastball between 84 and 87 mph.
Miguel Cabrera hit one to the center field wall for a leadoff double and pinch-runner Michael Holliman went to third when Burke tried to spin a slider to Marcus Thames that sailed high, wide and to the backstop.
Thames then hit a sacrifice fly to left to break the 1-1 tie.
Burke got Ivan Rodriguez on a grounder to second and Edgar Renteria on a line drive to Ichiro Suzuki in right field, sending the Mariners to the dugout thinking they had a chance against Tigers closer Todd Jones.
It looked possible when Jones started the inning by hitting Bloomquist with a pitch.
Betancourt came to bat and was told to swing away, not attempt a sacrifice bunt that would put the potential tying run in scoring position with Suzuki due up next.
“In normal baseball we might have bunted there,” Riggleman said. “But we didn’t want to play for a tie game there.”
Betancourt jumped at Jones’ first pitch, grounding it to shortstop to start a double play. Suzuki flew out to end the game.
“You can have fun with something like this, but I’m going to take it as I lost,” Burke said. “That’s the competitor in me. I don’t want to lose.”
Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com
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