Pinch me and tell me this is real.
It was 86 degrees at first pitch and, if that seemed hard to believe in what has been the frigid confines of Safeco Field, the Mariners had eight runs and a victory after the final pitch.
Stuff happens, especially when the middle of the batting order finally has a decent game. With Russell Branyan serving setup duty in the No. 2 spot in manager Don Wakamatsu’s revamped order, the middle three of Adrian Beltre, Ken Griffey Jr. and Jose Lopez each went 3-for-5 and drove in five runs.
Lopez had three RBI and Griffey hit his sixth home run in the eighth off Orioles left-hander Jamie Walker. With Walker pitching like, well, Jimmy Walker, the Mariners flashed some true dy-no-mite! (Google it, kids) in that inning. Branyan hit a two-run homer and Lopez hit his third double before Walker got out of the inning.
There was all that and the added bonus of Ichiro Suzuki breaking his own record by extending his hitting streak to 26 games and Erik Bedard not only beating his former team, but going to great lengths to do it. Bedard threw 112 pitches, the most he’s thrown since 116 nearly two years ago when he was an Oriole.
This was about the hitting, and before anyone starts to think Branyan in the 2-hole is the answer, let’s see the Mariners do this at least two games in a row.
Be enthused, though. The forecast is for more 80-degree weather tomorrow.
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