Pitching Fails M’S Again Seattle Batters Baltimore’s Ace, But Winds Up With An 8-7 Defeat

Their starting pitchers are stumbling early, gone late - and there doesn’t seem to be much the Seattle Mariners can do about them.

Their bullpen is overworked, and twice in the last three days, relievers have failed to hold leads. There’s not a great deal the Mariners can do about that, either.

In the wake of another frustrating defeat in Baltimore, this time as they watched a 7-5 lead become an 8-7 loss Sunday, there appears to be one move the Mariners can and will make.

Russ Davis may be replaced at third base by Luis Sojo.

Almost certainly, if the Mariners played today, Davis would be benched in favor of the veteran Sojo. Given an off-day by the schedulemakers, manager Lou Piniella will mull his options over a 48-hour span between games - but Davis is on shaky ground.

Especially when he’s standing in the batter’s box.

“We’ve exhausted what we can do for Russ,” batting instructor Lee Elia said. “He has to trust his hands, be more aggressive. He’s taking too many pitches, too many strikes.”

In a game in which the Mariners pounded Mike Mussina for 13 hits - the most he’d ever allowed - and seven runs, they couldn’t beat him in part because they couldn’t break the game open. Part of the reason, late in the game, was Davis.

Seattle’s usual offensive onslaught had Mussina losing in the sixth inning, 7-5, the Mariners runs scoring on a home-run assault that saw Jay Buhner hit two, Edgar Martinez and Dan Wilson hit one apiece.

Yet when the dust cleared, the game Sunday was like the whole series in Baltimore - and the Mariners had lost a game they could not believe they hadn’t won.

“You face a guy like Mussina, you think going in ‘If we score, two, three runs we’ve got a chance to beat him,”’ shortstop Alex Rodriguez said. “We scored seven against him and he won. That’s incredibly frustrating. Every game here, it felt like whoever had the last at-bat was going to win.”

Broken down, the Mariners had 47 hits in the three-game series here. They hit eight home runs. They scored 27 runs - and lost two of three games.

No one in the Mariners clubhouse blames Davis for the losses, not when pitchers held leads in all three games.

But Davis is batting .236, with only eight hits in his last 50 at-bats. Worse, he came up in the seventh and ninth innings Sunday - representing the winning run in the ninth - and each time took a called third strike.

“It’s frustrating,” he said. “I feel like I’m close, I hit a couple balls hard the other night, felt real good swinging the bat, then today it was like I took a big step backward. I’m pressing, I’m not relaxed. This can’t keep going on. I’m not letting the bat go.”

Ironically, if Seattle’s pitchers were doing their job, Davis might not be so close to losing his. With an offense that is literally crushing the ball, Davis’ struggles might be overlooked if Seattle weren’t giving up so many runs.

This time out, it was Sterling Hitchcock who wobbled through a start. Though he was 3-0 on April 12, he hasn’t won in seven starts since, and needed 93 pitches to get in five innings against Baltimore - and then gave up five runs in the process.

It’s been eight games now since a Seattle starting pitcher pitched as many as six innings. And when Hitchcock left after five innings, that 7-5 lead departed in the sixth.

Edwin Hurtado had two outs and no one on in that inning, then walked Mike Devereaux. Manny Alexander beat out an infield single and Hurtado hung a pitch that Roberto Alomar vaporized, hitting it far over the wall in center field for a three-run homer.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Orioles 8, Mariners 7 Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Bragg lf 4 0 0 0 1 0 .352 ARodriguez ss 5 1 3 0 0 1 .347 Griffey Jr cf 5 1 2 0 0 3 .271 EMartinez dh 5 1 2 2 0 0 .333 Buhner rf 5 2 3 3 0 1 .306 Sorrento 1b 3 1 2 0 0 1 .270 b-BRHuntr ph-1b 2 0 1 0 0 1 .400 Strange 3b 3 0 0 0 0 1 .235 c-RDavis ph-3b 2 0 0 0 0 2 .236 DWilson c 4 1 2 2 0 1 .285 Cora 2b 3 0 0 0 0 0 .214 d-Sojo ph-2b 1 0 0 0 0 0 .257 Totals 42 7 15 7 1 11 Baltimore AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Devereaux cf 4 1 0 1 1 2 .250 Alexander 2b 4 1 2 1 0 2 .222 RAlomar dh 4 1 2 3 0 0 .384 RPalmeiro 1b 4 1 2 1 0 0 .284 Bonilla 3b 3 1 1 0 1 0 .236 BRipken 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 .167 CRipken ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 .252 Smith rf 4 2 2 2 0 1 .400 Hoiles c 3 1 0 0 1 2 .222 Hammonds lf 1 0 0 0 1 0 .233 a-Polonia ph-lf 2 0 1 0 0 0 .222 Totals 33 8 10 8 4 8 Seattle 113 020 000 - 7 15 0 Baltimore 022 013 00x - 8 10 0 a-singled for Hammonds in the 6th. b-struck out for Sorrento in the 7th. c-struck out for Strange in the 7th. d-fouled out for Cora in the 8th. LOBSeattle 9, Baltimore 5. 2B-Griffey Jr (6), DWilson (5), RPalmeiro (7), Smith (1). HR-RAlomar (5) off Hurtado; RPalmeiro (9) off Hitchcock; Smith (1) off Hitchcock; EMartinez (10) off Mussina; Buhner 2 (15) off Mussina 2; DWilson (9) off Mussina. RBIsEMartinez 2 (35), Buhner 3 (40), DWilson 2 (31), Devereaux (14), Alexander (2), RAlomar 3 (30), RPalmeiro (37), Smith 2 (2). Runners left in scoring position-Seattle 5 (Griffey Jr, EMartinez, Sorrento, DWilson, Cora); Baltimore 3 (RAlomar, Bonilla 2). Runners moved up-Strange, Devereaux. Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Hitchcock 5 7 5 5 3 5 93 5.01 Hurtado L,2-4 3 3 3 3 1 3 51 6.81 Baltimore IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Mussina W,7-2 6 13 7 7 0 5 110 4.22 ARhodes 2 1 0 0 1 5 40 5.88 RMyers S,10 1 1 0 0 0 1 17 2.16 WP-Mussina. T-3:07. A-47,565 (48,262).