ST PETERSBURG, Fla. — Tom Wilhelmsen was in his second inning Friday — and the Seattle Mariners’ 14th — when he gave up a ground ball that became the game-winning double.
And when that walk-off hit by Ben Zobrist settled this game, 4-3, and Tampa Bay had won, Mariners manager Eric Wedge talked about what might have happened.
“We were going to go with Tom as far as he could go,” Wedge said. “But after Tom, it was going to be Miguel Olivo.”
That’s right. After another of those will-they-ever-score-again stretches Friday, the Mariners were out of pitching. Had Wilhelmsen wiggled out of the 14th, his plan was to continue on.
How long?
“Until we won,” Wilhelmsen said.
Wedge knew better. In the bullpen stretching even as that double rolled into the right-field corner was Olivo, a catcher.
Everything about this game was close, including the winning run.
Ichiro Suzuki fielded the game-winning hit in the right-field corner, cranked up that 38-year-old arm and fired home. He overshot cutoff man Dustin Ackley, but his throw beat the runner to the plate.
It was just a bit off-line, and when catcher Jesus Montero had to step back to catch the ball, Carlos Pena managed to slide in just ahead of Montero’s dive for a tag.
“It was one of those nights where you try to get three outs so your team can get back up to bat,” said reliever Josh Kinney, who worked 21⁄3 innings without allowing a run. “You knew someone was going to score. Every inning, I thought it would be us.”
Despite scoring 31 runs in four games at Kansas City, the Mariners started a lineup against the Rays that all but gave away two or three innings. The No. 7-8-9 hitters for Seattle — Justin Smoak, Carlos Peguero and Brendan Ryan — came in batting .198, .167 and .190. Go ahead, find another major-league team that can match that.
Those three combined to go 1-for-16.
The one hit was Peguero’s first home run of the season, a two-run shot that tied the game 3-3 in the seventh inning. Without it, the Mariners lose in regulation.
With it, they played on and on and then on a little more.
Peguero’s seventh-inning home run not only ended Seattle’s scoring for the night, it was the Mariners’ last hit until John Jaso singled in the 14th inning.
During that expanse, the Mariners only base runner was Kyle Seager, who reached base on one of three Tampa errors, but was caught stealing.
“Our pitchers were great, all night,” Wedge said. “We just couldn’t get anything going, especially in extra innings.”
The Rays, meanwhile, seemed to have a threat in every inning, and relievers Oliver Perez, Brandon League, Lucas Luetge and Kinney kept wiggling out of them.
Once the bullpen was down to two choices — Wilhelmsen and Olivo — Wedge went with his closer in the bottom of the 13th inning. Wilhelmsen needed six pitches to get three outs.
When he went back out in the 14th, he allowed two hits and lost.
All but forgotten in the marathon game was Seattle’s starting pitcher, Hisashi Iwakuma.
What he did in this one was produce his best big-league start, a six-inning, two-run effort in which he struck out a career-best six batters.
Iwakuma was in trouble in three of the first four innings, but either forced Tampa to strand runners or used a double play to get out of the jam.
He had a shutout and 1-0 lead going into the sixth inning, then gave up a tying solo home run to B.J. Upton and, later, a run that put the Rays ahead, 2-1.
That second run was a measure of bad luck. With a man on third and two out, Iwakuma got a ground ball to the left side of the infield from Jeff Keppinger. Third baseman Seager lunged for it, and when it kicked off his glove it bounded away from shortstop Brendan Ryan and into left field.
At that, Iwakuma faced the dilemma of all Mariners starting pitchers — a lack of offensive support that has become far too regular to go unnoticed.
What did he get during his six innings?
One run, produced when Suzuki tripled in the first inning and Casper Wells doubled him home.
The Mariners teased that inning, loading the bases with two outs, but James Shields struck out Jesus Montero with one out, then got out of trouble by striking out Smoak.
It was a theme Tampa pitching would return to again and again, striking out a total of 17 Mariners.
And, in the end, Seattle took its second walk-off loss in three games.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
