SEATTLE — The drama ended early Tuesday night when Franklin Gutierrez hit a two-run homer in the second inning to give the Seattle Mariners a two-run lead.
From there, the Mariners finished what has become the norm the past five games — another long line of zeroes by the pitching staff in a 2-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Safeco Field.
Jason Vargas smothered the Cubs with a changeup and cut fastball, allowing four hits in seven innings, and the Mariners’ newfound relief tandem of Brandon League and closer David Aardsma finished it.
The Mariners not only have won five straight games, their longest winning streak of the season, they’ve allowed two runs in those five games.
“I’ve never seen a five-game stretch of pitching like this,” manager Don Wakamatsu said.
Vargas started it last Wednesday when he held the Cardinals to one run in 72/3 innings of a 1-0 Mariners victory in St. Louis. Since then, Mariners pitchers have been even better than the pitching-and-defense predictions that carried them into the season with such high expectations. For example:
n Mariners starters Vargas, Cliff Lee, Felix Hernandez and Ryan Rowland-Smith have combined for a 0.46 earned run average in the past five games.
n Vargas’ 2.66 ERA ranks sixth in the American League, a list that also includes Doug Fister (tied for first at 2.45) and Cliff Lee (fifth at 2.55).
n The Mariners have allowed one run or less in five straight games, tied for the second-longest streak in franchise history going back to a six-game stretch from Sept. 7-19, 2001.
n The Mariners have recorded shutouts in back-to-back games for the 14th time in franchise history, and for the first time since June 20-21, 2007.
n Vargas is 4-0 with a 2.11 ERA over his past nine starts and 5-1, 2.30 in nine starts at Safeco Field this season.
Vargas, a Jamie Moyer-like left-hander whose fastball topped out at 88 mph Tuesday, baffled the Cubs with pinpoint location, especially with his changeup to get swings and misses early in the game and a cutter that he used later.
Vargas said he didn’t throw the cutter until the fifth inning, but when he did, the Cubs’ contact was as weak with it as it was with his changeup early.
“The cutter is another pitch I can keep right-handers honest with inside,” Vargas said.
With Ryan Dempster doing essentially the same thing to the Mariners’ hitters, Vargas needed every pitch in his arsenal.
Dempster made one mistake, but it changed the game. He left a 2-1 fastball up in the zone that Gutierrez drove over the left-field fence and into the Mariners’ bullpen for a two-run homer in the second inning.
Given the number of one-run margins the Mariners have had to protect, this was major breathing room. Except things got dicey in the late innings.
Vargas gave up a leadoff double to Alfonso Soriano in the fifth — his bloop in shallow right field landed on the foul line — and Tyler Colvin followed with the Cubs’ best contact of the night. He hit a sinking line drive to left field, and Soriano was so convinced it would fall that he immediately broke to third base.
Mariners left fielder Michael Saunders got an even better jump and caught the ball on the run, then threw to second to double off Soriano.
In the seventh, Vargas walked Geovany Soto with two outs and Soriano doubled down the left-field line. Colvin followed that with a bouncer that appeared headed through the hole between first and second base.
First baseman Mike Carp, however, also got a good jump and made a headlong dive to catch the ball, then got to his feet and threw to first base, where Vargas was covering for the final out.
“I thought that ball was getting through the hole for sure,” Vargas said. “For him to get up like that and give me a good feed was huge.”
Vargas had thrown only 94 pitches to that point, but Wakamatsu decided to let League and Aardsma finish. Those two made a perfect eighth-and-ninth-inning combo in Sunday’s 1-0 victory over the Reds.
League, however, created his own jam by walking Starlin Castro and allowing Ryan Theriot’s single to start the eighth. He then erased the mess by getting Marlon Byrd on a double-play grounder to second base and pinch-hitter Chad Tracy on a fly to center.
Aardsma got two quick outs in the ninth before a walk and single put runners on first and third, but he struck out Colvin to end the game, giving him 16 saves.
Among those who could breathe again was Vargas, who has the best record on the pitching staff at 6-2.
Asked if he has noticed his place among the American League’s pitching elite, Vargas smiled.
“I haven’t, but I’m not really a computer-savvy guy where I’m on the internet looking at those types of things,” he said. “I’ve got a 2-year-old son at home and we’re watching cartoons most of the time.”
Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com/marinersblog
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