Devil Rays sweep aside Mariners with run in 9th

SEATTLE – Little things, like sacrifice bunts and situational hitting that advances baserunners, win baseball games.

Leadoff walks and poor execution on offense don’t.

The Seattle Mariners didn’t need further examples of what has ailed them this season, but they got them anyway Wednesday night in a 6-5 loss to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

The Devil Rays did the little things right, twice dropping sacrifice bunts and following them with effective hitting to score the tying run in the seventh inning, then the winning run in the ninth.

The Mariners, who came from behind with five runs in the sixth inning and took a 5-4 lead on Bucky Jacobsen’s three-run homer, muffed their remaining opportunities.

The result was a Devil Rays victory that swept the three-game series and stoked the frustration that is flaring among the Mariners.

“We’re having trouble sealing the deal or coming back all the way,” M’s manager Bob Melvin said. “Last night we came back to within one run. Today we got a lead and gave it up again and ended up losing by a run. It’s frustrating. It seems like the last month or so we’ve seen quite a bit of that.”

Amid the frustration was a hitless night for Ichiro Suzuki, who remained one hit from becoming the first player in major league history to get at least 200 in each of his first four seasons. He went 0 for 4 and was walked once intentionally, losing three points on his batting average to .366.

“Sometimes when you get right to the verge, you want to get over the hump,” Melvin said. “It isn’t going to last long. He’ll get his 200th hit, my feeling is tomorrow.”

That would be a good time for a few other Mariners to get a timely hit, or at least advance a few runners. Besides their five-run outburst, the M’s misfired on every other opportunity to score while the Devil Rays didn’t.

After the M’s had gone ahead 5-4, the Rays tied it immediately after M’s starter Ron Villone walked the leadoff hitter, Geoff Blum, in the seventh. Rey Sanchez followed with a single to put men on first and second, Carl Crawford dropped a sacrifice bunt that advanced the runners, and Julio Lugo lifted a sacrifice fly to center field.

With a similar chance in the bottom of the seventh, the Mariners couldn’t convert. Miguel Olivo led off with a single and Jose Lopez moved him with a sacrifice bunt.

The Devil Rays took the bat out of Suzuki’s hands by walking him, and the Rays brought in right-hander Travis Harper. He struck out Randy Winn and got Edgar Martinez on a soft fly that ended the inning.

Raul Ibanez started the Mariners’ half of the eighth with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch, but went no farther when Harper struck out Boone and Jacobsen, then got Jolbert Cabrera on a grounder.

In the ninth, the Devil Rays converted another leadoff walk into the game-winning run.

Right-hander Scott Atchison, who pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, walked Blum to start the ninth and Sanchez sacrificed him to second. Atchison intentionally walked Crawford to set up a double-play possibility, but Lugo singled to right to load the bases. Melvin brought in lefty George Sherrill against pinch-hitter Aubrey Huff, who hit a grounder to second that Boone stopped with a dive but could only throw to first as the go-ahead run scored.