M’s leave the building with a 4-2 victory
CHICAGO – On Elvis Night, Joel Piñeiro changed the color of his hair – replacing streaked blonde with a jet black that might have made the King smile.
On the mound, he altered his mechanics, incorporating a suggestion from his pitching coach that helped him find command and velocity he hadn’t had in months, producing one of his better starts of a season almost lost.
Behind that strong start, timely hitting and marvelous relief, the Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-2 – dispatching the team with the American League’s best record and beating old friend Freddy Garcia.
“It was all thanks to (pitching coach) Bryan Price,” Piñeiro said “He came up to me in the bullpen between starts and asked if I was willing to try something and I said yes.”
How could he not? Piñeiro began the game with a 3-7 record and a 6.06 earned run average. With numbers like that, pitchers are glad when their pitching coach still speaks to them.
So what was the idea?
“Bryan had me lift my hands over my head during my delivery, hold them high when I was pitching from the stretch. In the bullpen, it felt great,” Piñeiro said. “And tonight on the mound, it felt completely different – I’d never done that in my life. But it let me keep my pitches down.”
The White Sox got two runs, and both came on solo homers off Piñeiro.
After Chicago grabbed a first-inning lead on Aaron Rowand’s home run, the Mariners got even when Richie Sexson did the same thing in the second inning – hitting his 27th of the season.
Hargrove put the game in motion in the fourth inning, greenlighting Willie Bloomquist and Raul Ibañez, who pulled off a double steal. That led to Seattle’s second run when Adrian Beltre followed with a soft, opposite-field RBI single.
Piñeiro gave up a solo home run to catcher A.J. Pierzynski – but Chicago never scored again.
The Mariners did.
Ibañez singled in the sixth inning, then scored all the way from first base on Sexson’s double – after which Sexson was thrown out at third base.
“I asked him when he lost his eyesight, before or after he got to third,” Mariners manager Mike Hargrove deadpanned.
Chris Snelling doubled in the seventh inning to set up the Mariners’ final run, which Yuniesky Betancourt scored on catcher Yorvit Torrealba’s ground ball.
Piñeiro was tiring by then, and got only one more out in the bottom of the seventh inning, allowing back-to-back singles to the Nos. 8 and No. 9 hitters in the Chicago lineup.
That was enough for Hargrove.
He brought in left-hander George Sherrill to face All-Star Scott Podsednik, who struck out.
Next, Jeff Nelson was brought in to face right-hander Tadahito Iguchi, who lined out.
The win came against their former ace, Garcia, who’d played host the night before to Piñeiro and his wife.
“He’s like my brother,” Piñeiro said. “Both our wives are pregnant, and we just spent the evening talking about pitching and baseball. Before the game tonight, we just said ‘Stay focused, have fun.’ He pitched a good game, too.”
Piñeiro pitched a little better, and for just the second time since April 26 he won.
“I’m happy, but it’s one start, so I don’t want to get too high,” he admitted.
And the hair color?
“My wife’s idea,” he said, “but when I got to the clubhouse all the guys were saying I’d done it just for Elvis Night here. I didn’t know it was Elvis Night, but they had a lot of fun with it.”
Back in the coach’s room, Price was asked about changing Piñeiro’s delivery, repositioning his hands.
“It was just something I asked him to try, and he felt comfortable with it,” Price said. “I think pitching against Freddy took him to another level, too, gave him just a little something extra tonight.
“Then again, it might have been the hair. He did look a little like Elvis.”