Meche’s not at best in M’s loss

DETROIT – Pitchers learn quickly in the major leagues that they have to get by on some nights without their best stuff.

Gil Meche didn’t have command of his fastball Wednesday. And he didn’t get by without it.

Jolted for four first-inning runs, then four more in a five-run fifth inning, Meche absorbed most of the damage in Detroit’s 10-7 victory over Seattle – yielding a career-high eight runs.

“I couldn’t put my fastball where I wanted it, but I had my best curveball of the year,” Meche said, shaking his head. “But you can’t sit out there and throw 100 curveballs.”

It might not have been any worse if he had.

“Gil fell behind and had to throw fastballs in fastball counts,” manager Mike Hargrove said. “You give up five runs in an inning with two outs, it’s tough to win.”

Oddly enough, with the Tigers scoring almost at will, they couldn’t put the Mariners away – even in the ninth inning, Seattle brought the tying running to the plate in cleanup hitter Richie Sexson.

“You fall behind, you can’t get frustrated,” said Willie Bloomquist, who had three hits. “You get frustrated, a game gets really ugly. We kept coming at them.”

“When you get down, the goal is always to get the tying run to the plate,” said Raul Ibanez, who had two hits and a walk. “A game like this is like looking at your whole season. You’ve got to grind away, just try for good at-bats, see what happens. We almost made it happen tonight.”

What now?

“You come out the next day and grind all over again,” Ibanez said. “That’s baseball.”

For the Mariners, baseball has been a game where putting the offense and pitching together hasn’t been easy through 106 games. They have had wonderful pitching and not scored, scored plenty of runs and been unable to stop the other team.

Meche allowed the first four batters he faced to score, putting Seattle in a 4-0 hole, needing 30 pitches to get the first three outs of the night.

Into the fourth inning, the Mariners had one hit – rookie Yuniesky Betancourt’s double. Then Bloomquist singled to open that fourth, Sexson drew a walk and Adrian Beltre hit his 14th home run of the season – a three-run shot that brought the game within reach at 4-3.

Detroit struck back with a lethal surge in the fifth inning – and did all its damage after there were two out. Meche couldn’t get that third out, and it took Clint Nageotte four batters to get it.

Before the inning ended, the Tigers led, 9-3.

Seattle picked up two runs in the sixth inning. But after rookie Mike Morse singled home the second run to make it 9-5, he was picked off first base for the third out of the rally.

The Mariners made another run in the eighth inning, loading the bases with no one out.

Beltre singled home a run, and Morse drove in another with a ground ball.

It was 9-7 and Seattle had two men on, only one out. Jeremy Reed struck out, Betancourt flied out and the Tigers celebrated all the way to the dugout.

It carried over. In their half of the inning, first baseman Chris Shelton homered off Maso Kida, and the Tigers were up by three.

And still, the Mariners wouldn’t go quietly.

Against Tigers right-hander Fernando Rodney, they made one last run in the ninth inning. Pinch-hitter Dave Hansen walked, and Jamal Strong ran for him. Two outs later, Ibanez drew a walk to bring up Sexson.

And Sexson, the team’s home run and RBI leader all season, popped out.

Notes

Clint Nageotte reported for duty with the Mariners. The 24-year-old right-hander was brought up from Tacoma to replace Jorge Campillo, who pitched one inning in his Tuesday start, strained his right elbow and was placed on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday.

In 12 appearances with the Rainiers, Nageotte had two saves and a 0.83 earned run average. A year ago, he made 12 appearances with Seattle and went 1-6 with a 7.36 ERA.