Mariners pay price for wasting opportunities in 4-2 loss to Padres

SEATTLE – A too-familiar bugaboo returned Wednesday to bite the Seattle Mariners in a 4-2 loss to San Diego and halt their season-best winning streak at four games.

A failure to produce with runners in scoring position.

The Mariners repeatedly let Padres starter James Shields off the hook; 10 times in fact over six innings before San Diego turned to its bullpen to gain a split in the two-game series.

The first inning set the tone.

Seth Smith led off with a single and went to second on a passed ball before Brad Miller walked, but Shields escaped against the heart of order.

Robinson Cano chased a 2-2 pitch wide of the zone for a strikeout. Nelson Cruz chased a 2-2 pitch up and out of the zone for a strikeout. And Kyle Seager hit a weak grounder to second.

Contrast that with Tuesday’s series opener when the Mariners jumped Ian Kennedy for four runs in the first inning in rolling to an 11-4 victory.

Loop ahead to the sixth. The Mariners trailed 2-1 when Seager and Logan Morrison started the inning with walks that pushed Shields’ pitch count to 108.

Again nothing: Shields struck out Mike Zunino, who failed to get a bunt down early in the at-bat, and escaped when Dustin Ackley grounded into a double play.

Shields (5-0) gave up six hits while striking out nine and walking three.

When a bullpen relay of ex-Mariner Brandon Maurer, Joaquin Benoit and Craig Kimbrell closed out the victory, Shields became the first Padres pitcher to open the season with five victories since Justin Germano in 2007.

That’s the same Germano who, now 32, is currently pitching at Triple-A Tacoma, where he is 2-1 with a 1.74 ERA. (Point to note: Germano finished 2007 at 7-10.)

Kimbrell gave up one run in the ninth before securing his 10th save.

Mariners starter Taijuan Walker (1-4) delivered a quality start – just his second in seven outings – by limiting the Padres to two runs in six innings. But he was down a run when he gave way to Joe Beimel.

San Diego then nicked Beimel for a run on Abraham Almonte’s two-out RBI single for a 3-1 lead. The Padres added their final run in the eighth on a wild pitch by Carson Smith.

The Mariners had been better lately with runners in scoring position – a .280 average in May prior to Wednesday – but still entered the game ranked 11th among the 15 American League clubs with a .234 season average.

So, yes, this was a step back.

Walker gave up both of his runs in the third. Will Middlebrooks started the inning by driving a 1-1 fastball over the left-field wall for a homer and Cory Spangenberg added a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 Padres lead.