Youth movement leads Mariner win
DETROIT – The kids are coming. The kids are here.
“I was sitting in the bullpen looking around at the new faces and I thought, ‘Tomorrow I’d better bring some Happy Meals out here,’ ” said Seattle reliever Eddie Guardado.
The new-look Seattle Mariners, their roster refurbished with rookies and young players, needed help from both Tuesday as they beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-1.
Rookie Jeremy Reed went from first to third base in the eighth inning on Dave Hansen’s sacrifice bunt and scored the go-ahead run on rookie Yuniesky Betancourt’s double. After rookie starting pitcher Jorge Campillo had to leave the game after one inning with a strained right elbow, another rookie – 31-year-old Jeff Harris – kept Seattle ahead 1-0 with five marvelous shutout innings.
“I just kept telling myself, ‘Breathe, breathe!’ ” Harris said.
“Good advice,” manager Mike Hargrove said. “It worked.”
The Mariners have seven players on their roster that weren’t with them on Saturday, and soon there will be other new faces. Campillo, for instance, will return to Seattle today for medical tests and almost certainly will be replaced by another arm – probably Clint Nageotte – from Triple-A Tacoma.
“It’s a tough situation in the sense that we know we’re out of the race this year,” Guardado said. “On the other hand, it’s time to look at the future, and these kids bring something to the park. Harris pitched his butt off and Betancourt – you see the play he made out there?”
Even Tigers fans oohed and aahed at the play the 21-year-old shortstop made in the eighth inning. Craig Monroe hit a shot toward third baseman Adrian Beltre that glanced off Beltre’s glove toward left field – but Betancourt bare-handed the carom and threw to first base in time to get Monroe.
“I told him ‘Nice job, and thanks,’ ” Beltre said.
Beltre gave the Mariners a 1-0 lead with his second-inning home run, his 13th of the season, and Harris held that score through six innings. Julio Mateo came in to relieve and immediately gave up a solo home run to Ivan Rodriguez.
Tied into the eighth inning, the Mariners got bold.
Reed singled, and Hargrove asked the veteran Hansen to lay down a sacrifice bunt. Reed was off with the pitch, Hansen dropped the bunt – and when third baseman Brandon Inge fielded and threw to first, Reed kept digging for third.
“I hoped Jeremy would try, and it was good, aggressive base-running,” Hargrove said. “Rodriguez had to try to cover third base, and that’s a tough job for any catcher.”
Reed slid in safely, and Detroit walked Wiki Gonzalez to get to Betancourt.
“In the brief time he’s been here, he’s put the ball in play, and usually put it in play hard,” Hargrove said.
This time, Betancourt doubled down the left-field line, putting Seattle ahead 2-1. Two outs later, Raul Ibañez – now the left fielder, not the designated hitter – singled home two more runs.
From there, J.J. Putz and Guardado each worked a scoreless inning, and the Mariners had their 46th victory of the year, eight more than the 38 players they have used in getting that many.
Afterward, Harris was asked if he were ready to pitch five innings of relief every day.
“If they ask,” he said. “I’ve been a lot of places in the last few years, but this is the best.”