Up-and-down debut

SEATTLE — In his official debut as the Seattle Mariners’ ace, Erik Bedard played the part for much of Monday afternoon.

He showed flashes of the power and control that have made him one of the American League’s best left-handers. He put up good numbers in five innings of work and put the Mariners in position to record an Opening Day victory by way of a 5-2 comeback win over the Texas Rangers.

If Bedard lacked anything Monday, it was efficiency. A high pitch count (102) forced manager John McLaren to take him out of the game after just five innings of work.

“He hung in there and kept us in the game,” McLaren said after winning his first Opening Day as manager. “He was really fighting out there. He had good breaking stuff but he couldn’t quite get it over the plate. He gave us a chance to win the game.”

In the end, reliever Sean Green earned the victory after Seattle scored five runs over the sixth and seventh innings. But it was Bedard that set the table in his first Mariners start.

The 29-year-old southpaw had an impressive line in his official Mariners debut, giving up just three hits and one run over five innings of work, but there were a few red flags along the way.

Most notable was Bedard’s pitch count, which was at 57 after just two innings and 95 after four. An efficient, seven-pitch inning allowed him to make it through the fifth before leaving after 102 pitches.

His most unfortunate pitch may have been the 3-1 fastball that the Rangers’ Michael Young hammered over the right-field fence on the second at-bat of the game.

“I tried to battle through each inning, stay in there and not give up the big inning,” he said afterward.

Bedard refused to admit any frustration over the calls of the home plate umpire, but catcher Kenji Johjima admitted that Bedard might have been affected by the strike zone.

“Overall, he was great,” Johjima said. “He kept his anger and didn’t show it. … He had some tough calls from the umpire. But he kept pitching to that corner, so that’s how you know he’s a (mentally) strong guy.”

Bedard struggled to get out of the first, giving up a single and walk to the two batters after Young, but he settled down from there. The Mariners’ new ace gave up just one hit over the final 42/3 innings before his high pitch count chased him from the game with Seattle trailing 1-0.

If nothing else, the performance was a welcome divergence from Bedard’s lukewarm spring. He went 2-2 with an 8.63 ERA in six spring training appearances but found his rhythm for the first meaningful game.

Cracked Johjima: “He must like the cold.”

Pitching in weather conditions that included 45-degree temperatures early Monday evening, Bedard struck out the first batter on three pitches, then added four more strikeouts in his five innings of work. He threw strikes on each of his first four pitches before tossing three consecutive pitches out of the strike zone leading up to Young’s homer. Bedard threw 31 pitches in the first inning alone.

The Rangers’ David Murphy led off the second inning with a long flyout to center field, but after that only one of Bedard’s final 65 pitches went out of the infield in fair territory.

Bedard closed with a strong final three innings, retiring seven of the final eight batters he faced.

“He had great command overall,” Johjima said. “He was throwing very hard (Monday).”

Bedard, who is known to be curt with his answer to reporters’ questions, summed up his first Mariners performance succinctly.

“OK,” he said.

Bedard has a long way to go to reach savior status, but his first home start at Safeco Field was a success.

“It’s nice to get off on the right step and get the first (team) win out of the way,” he said. “That’s always a big thing for a team, and we’ll just try to keep it up.”

The Mariners hope that Bedard, who was acquired for five players in a February deal, keeps turning in performances like the one he had Monday.

“He threw five innings, and that’s what we expected,” teammate Adrian Beltre said. “He did his job. He only gave up one run and kept us in the game. Hopefully, he can do that every outing.”

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