‘Wash’ burned again

SEATTLE – If Jarrod Washburn didn’t have trade rumors and losses to deal with, this might be a pretty good month.

Instead, the end of his season is going about like the beginning, with Saturday night’s 5-1 loss to the Oakland A’s adding to the heap that has been the Seattle Mariners side of his career.

Daric Barton’s two-run homer in the fourth inning and Bobby Crosby’s RBI single in the fifth were enough to leave the left-hander with five losses in as many starts in August.

This month – and pretty much all those that preceded it in Washburn’s time as a Mariner – have left him with a 98-100 career record. He came here in 2006 after going 75-57 with the Angels.

The 43rd loss of his Mariners career followed a pattern similar to so many others. He didn’t pitch badly, but a few pitches hurt him and little backing by his own offense made for another rough outing.

“As usual, ‘Wash’ gave us a chance,” manager Jim Riggleman said. “He seems to do that every time. It’s unfortunate we can’t score for him whenever he’s pitching.”

Washburn gave up seven hits and three runs in six innings.

A’s starter Dana Eveland held the Mariners to five hits and a run, on Wladimir Balentien’s double to left-center that scored Jose Lopez from first base in the seventh inning. Eveland (8-8) is 3-0 this year and 4-0 in his career against the Mariners.

If nothing else, the Mariners showed warning-track power against Eveland. Adrian Beltre, starting at DH because of a sore left shoulder, hit two deep outs, including one to the 405-foot mark in center field that Rajai Davis caught in the eighth inning. Ichiro Suzuki hit one that right fielder Carlos Gonzalez caught at the wall in the sixth and Kenji Johjima stung a line drive to Emil Brown in left field in the second.

“It seemed like whenever we did center the ball, it was at them,” Riggleman said. “Beltre hit about three balls real well, Johjima hit a ball real well and Ichiro, I thought his ball was going to go. But we didn’t put enough of them out there to put pressure on him.”

Washburn is accustomed to that.

He has the lowest run support, 4.35 runs per game, of any American League starter since 2005. This season, the Mariners have scored four runs or fewer in 17 of his 25 starts.

It has been an eventful – or, maybe, uneventful – four weeks for Washburn.

He’d been the Mariners’ most consistent starter in July with a 2-2 record and a 2.67 ERA, pitching at least six innings in four of his five starts and eight innings twice.

That made him an attractive trade target, and both the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins showed interest. No offer was enough for the Mariners to trade him, and Washburn remains.

Now he’s 5-14 this season and, with losses in six of his past seven starts, is back to the pattern that began his season. Washburn went 1-4 in six starts in April.

The A’s scored twice off Mark Lowe in the seventh before Jake Woods and R.A. Dickey finished the game.

Dickey’s appearance revealed a change in the Mariners’ pitching plans. Early in the week he’d been scheduled to start Monday night’s game against the Twins.

Right-hander Miguel Batista will get that start, his first since Aug. 4 when the Twins knocked him out of the game after three innings. Batista is 4-12 with a 6.55 ERA in 19 starts.

His quest: to help the Mariners avoid 100 losses.

They’re 47-82 and need to win 16 of their last 33 games to avoid 100. The most recent loss ensured that the Mariners will finish the season with a losing record.

At 311/2 games out of first place with 33 to play, they could be eliminated today from any chance of winning the American League West.