Feierabend’s welcome back not so warm for M’s

MINNEAPOLIS – Ryan Feierabend had barely stepped to the Metrodome mound for his 2008 Mariners’ debut Sunday when he found the bases loaded with Twins, no outs, and former MVP Justin Morneau at the plate.

“All I can say is, welcome back to the major leagues,” he observed afterward.

Morneau singled, and Feierabend’s day went rapidly downhill from there. The Mariners’ day at least featured their usual semblance of a comeback that fell short.

They rallied from an eight-run deficit to bring the go-ahead run to the plate in both the eighth and ninth, but still fell, 11-8, as the Twins completed a three-game sweep.

Feierabend got ripped for 10 hits and six runs in just three innings in a forgettable return to the majors, and that was just the start of a rocky pitching day.

R.A. Dickey paid the price for a volatile knuckleball, throwing four wild pitches in the fifth inning to tie a major-league record. Catcher Kenji Johjima appeared totally flummoxed by the pitch, contributing a passed ball in the same inning.

“It was moving really erratically,” Dickey said. “It was hard to control. It was moving violently. If I could have thrown it for strikes, it would have been a real fun day.”

But instead, he walked three in 1 1/3 innings. All told, five M’s pitchers walked 10 in the game.

Yet their resurgent offense brought them nearly all the way back from that 8-0 deficit after five innings. Of course, the operative word is “nearly.”

The game ended with Ichiro’s bases-loaded ground out off Twins’ closer Joe Nathan, who had struck out Adrian Beltre with the bases loaded to end the eighth.

Raul Ibanez had his second career five-hit game (to go along with a six-hit game against the Angels in 2004) that included two doubles, giving him a career-high 38 for the season.

It was Ibanez’s single in the sixth off Twins starter Glen Perkins, preceding Beltre’s two-run homer, that started the M’s rally. Later in the inning, Wladimir Balentien and Johjima provided just the second back-to-back homers of the season for Seattle.

“You never feel out of it, and Riggleman has a lot to do with it,” Ibanez said. “When we’re down five or six, he’s in the dugout saying, ‘We’ve done it before, don’t give in.’ ”

Despite the Mariners’ reeling win totals – they’ve now lost seven of eight and are 9-19 since the break, manager Jim Riggleman said he senses better times ahead.

“We’re going to get it together and get it turned around,” he said.

Ibanez added, “Hopefully we’ll finish strong and leave the last taste of the season being a winning taste.”