SEATTLE – This isn’t what Miguel Batista meant when he said he pitches to contact.
The Seattle Mariners’ veteran right-hander couldn’t avoid the New York Yankees’ bats, especially the fat part, in the 21/3 innings he lasted Saturday night. He gave up five runs in the second inning, two in the third and 10 hits to the 18 hitters he faced during what became a 7-2 Yankees victory at Safeco Field.
“Everything he threw was up and over the middle of the plate,” manager Mike Hargrove said. “Past the first inning, nothing was working for him. Everybody has nights like that.”
The Mariners, however, have seen it too often by their starters, which has put a strain on the bullpen. In the past nine games, Mariners starters have pitched beyond six innings just three times, although one of those was Batista’s 61/3 innings against the Yankees in the Bronx on Monday.
He wasn’t the same pitcher Saturday.
A five-run second inning by the Yankees, when Batista struggled to get any pitch past them, was all they needed. It began when he walked Jason Giambi to start the inning and didn’t end before Hideki Matsui had doubled and Jorge Posada, Doug Mientkiewicz, Johnny Damon, Bobby Abreu and Derek Jeter each hit RBI singles.
The third inning began no differently, with Matsui and Posada lashing singles up the middle on the first two pitches Batista threw. After Mientkiewicz’s sacrifice bunt, Robinson Cano singled to right field to score Matsui, and Posada also scored after right fielder Jose Guillen bobbled the ball.
That hit chased Batista, whose record fell to 3-3 and earned run average ballooned by more than a run to 6.98.
“Everybody has a bad inning,” said Hargrove, who couldn’t get left-hander Eric O’Flaherty warmed up quick enough. “By the time we had someone up and ready, they were already up four runs on us. A lot of times, especially with a veteran pitcher, they’ll settle down and be good the rest of the time. It didn’t happen tonight.”
With a sellout crowd of 46,153 aching to forget the horrid start by Batista, the Mariners’ offense didn’t provide much relief against Yankees starter Matt DeSalvo. He held the M’s to seven hits and two runs in 61/3 innings, soundly backing up his outing in New York on Monday when he gave up three hits and a run over seven innings in a no-decision.
The Mariners had runners on base in every inning this time but scored only in the third when Ichiro Suzuki walked with one out, Jose Vidro doubled and Raul Ibanez tripled, driving home both runners. Ibanez’s hit was the 900th triple in the Mariners’ 31 seasons, and Ibanez pushed his career RBI total to 601.
The good times ended then and forever.
Despite having a runner on third, less than one out and a chance to slice DeSalvo’s big lead, the Mariners let him free. Richie Sexson grounded back to the pitcher and Jose Guillen popped out to end the inning
The Mariners got just three baserunners the next three innings against DeSalvo, and one of those was wiped out on a double play.
By then, the M’s already were behind 7-0, although the 22-year-old O’Flaherty became the most uplifting aspect of the night.
O’Flaherty, who beat the Yankees on May 4 with 21/3 innings of relief for his first major league victory, silenced them over 42/3 shutout innings, allowing one hit. George Sherrill and Chris Reitsma also kept the Yankees scoreless in the eighth and ninth.
“Our bullpen did a good job,” Hargrove said. “We just couldn’t ever get the big hit to get any closer. As good as you can feel being seven runs down, we felt good. It was 7-2 and we felt like we could get back in it. But we never could get over the hump.”
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