SEATTLE – Joel Pineiro’s pitching didn’t exactly send Seattle Mariners fans home early Wednesday night, because there were hardly enough of them to leave.
He tried, though.
Pitching for the smallest crowd ever for a Mariners game at Safeco Field – 20,723 – Pineiro was blessed with a 3-0 lead in the first inning, then cursed when he gave up five runs in the second and another in the third.
It turned into a 7-3 Mariners loss to the Texas Rangers and another round of discussion over what’s up with the inconsistent Pineiro.
“He had a 14-pitch first inning and a 38-pitch second inning,” manager Mike Hargrove said. “It’s like somebody turned a light switch off. We talked to him after that inning and he had no reason for it. All of a sudden he couldn’t throw anything over the plate.”
Pineiro’s final start of the season lasted three innings, left him with a 7-11 record and a huge question over what the Mariners have with a pitcher once considered a possible anchor of the starting rotation.
His 5.62 earned run average is the highest among the Mariners’ five starters, and he finished the season having allowed 13 earned runs in his past two starts. It also put the finishing touch on an up-and-down season.
Pineiro, who missed the final half of last season with a strained elbow and battled a sore shoulder in spring training, started the season 2-1. Then he lost six of his next seven decisions, won two straight, lost two, won two and finally, lost two.
If there’s a positive even in the negative, it’s that Pineiro’s velocity has been good with a fastball hitting 94 mph in his past several starts.
The first two innings Wednesday were a microcosm of Pineiro’s season.
He got the Rangers to hit three soft ground-ball outs in the first inning and started the second with a strikeout of Hank Blalock.
“After the first inning, I thought he had figured it out,” Hargrove said. “Tonight was reminiscent of early in the season.”
Pineiro lost touch with strike zone in the second inning. When he threw a strike, he did to the center of the plate where the Rangers could club it, and the Rangers did with five runs on five hits.
Pineiro walked in one run and gave up RBI singles to Jason Botts and Mark Teixeira, plus a two-run single to Michael Young. All of the runs scored with two outs, and Pineiro threw nine straight balls during one stretch.
“What amazed me more than anything was the fact that he lost absolute control of the strike zone,” Hargrove said. “Their guys are hard to walk.
“Five runs with two outs, that’s tough to take. It sure took the air out of our balloon.”
The Mariners led 3-0 after the first inning, when it appeared Rangers starter Chris Young would be the pitcher in greatest peril.
Ichiro Suzuki led off with a single – his 197th hit this season as he strives for five straight years with at least 200 hits – then stole second and scored on Raul Ibanez’s single. Richie Sexson followed with a towering fly that eluded Botts’ glove in left field, bounced off the top of the wall and into the Rangers’ bullpen for a two-run homer that gave the Mariners a 3-0 lead.
Pineiro gave it all back and then some, and the Mariners barely registered a threat the rest of the game. They had four hits in the first inning and three after that.
The M’s have scored three runs or less 74 times this season, winning just 14 of those games. Combine that with three of the five starting pitchers with ERAs of 5.15 or higher, and the Mariners’ problems aren’t difficult to see.
Any wonder attendance has fallen?
Wednesday’s crowd was the smallest in the 5-year history of Safeco Field, and it was the Mariners’ smallest home crowd since May 19, 1999, when they drew 20,497 to the Kingdome for a game against Minnesota.
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