Youth serves M’s
SEATTLE – The veterans were understandably concerned when the Seattle Mariners called up rookie outfielder Adam Jones on Friday, and manager John McLaren addressed the team to let the old guard know how important they are to the cause.
Make no mistake, however, this is a team that relies heavily on its youth, and the kids were largely responsible for a 7-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
The 22-year-old Jones singled in his first two at-bats, reached base three times and scored twice, and 25-year-old shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt went 3 for 4, including a three-run homer and an RBI groundout.
“He brings so much to the table, he’s so multitalented,” McLaren said. “I don’t want to put the expectations too high on him, but he’s going to be something special. He reminds me a lot of Mike Cameron in the way he’s got energy, that he’s multitalented and he has fun playing. The sky’s the limit.”
Jones and Betancourt, plus catcher Kenji Johjima’s two-run homer and another dose of effective late-inning pitching from the young relievers, helped the Mariners gain a game in the American League West standings.
“I just wanted to hit the ball hard and put it in play,” said Jones, who won’t play today but probably will be in center field Sunday when Ichiro Suzuki is the DH. “I don’t know the situation, but I’m just glad I’m here. I want to be a sparkplug, have fun and play the game.”
For a night, that helped the Mariners gain more ground on the first-place Angels. They’re within 2 1/2 games of the lead after Oakland beat the Angels.
A sellout crowd of 46,235 got its first glimpse this season at what Jones and the younger side of the Mariners is capable of doing.
The bottom three in the batting order – Jones, Jose Lopez and Betancourt, combined to go 4 for 10 with five runs and four RBIs. The top five went 5 for 20 with one run and one RBI. First baseman Richie Sexson wobbled again, going 0 for 4 with three strikeouts and is batting .196.
Betancourt led off the third inning with a single and scored on Adrian Beltre’s two-out single, giving the Mariners their first run after the Red Sox had taken a 3-0 lead off M’s starter Horacio Ramirez.
In his next at-bat, Betancourt put the Mariners ahead.
Jones got his second hit of the game, a one-out single, and Lopez followed with a walk against Red Sox starter Jon Lester, a Puyallup, Wash., native in his second start this season after undergoing off-season chemotherapy for lymphoma.
Betancourt then launched a high fly that carried over the fence near the left-field foul pole, a three-run homer that gave the Mariners a 4-3 lead.
Ramirez, 6-0 this season at home and 0-3 on the road, couldn’t hold the lead. The Red Sox got three straight hits off him in the fifth inning, including David Ortiz’s RBI single, and threatened to break the game open.
With runners on first and second and nobody out, McLaren turned to the bullpen.
“When it got to that point, I felt like we couldn’t go any further (with Ramirez),” McLaren said. “They had some of their guns coming up and we had to slam the door.”
Sean Green, the 28-year-old who has been a ground-ball machine this season with his sinker, came through again. He got Manny Ramirez to ground into a double play, then ended the threat when Mike Lowell grounded out.
Johjima’s two run homer in the seventh gave the Mariners a three-run lead and the bullpen put the Red Sox away.