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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Mariners walk past Twins

Kirby Arnold Everett Herald

SEATTLE – Try as they have all year to do things right, nothing has turned out quite like the Seattle Mariners intended. Take Monday, in the 111th game of a last-place season, against the Minnesota Twins.

When a line drive headed toward his rump in the first inning, pitcher Gil Meche’s right arm got in the way.

With Ichiro Suzuki on first base and nobody out in a 4-4 game in the eighth, Willie Bloomquist tried to drop a sacrifice bunt and didn’t. Later in the eighth, Suzuki stood on third with one out but didn’t try to tag up and score on a popup to shallow center field, even though Twins second baseman Nick Punto had a near-impossible throw after catching the ball with his back to the infield.

That’s the way it’s been for the Mariners. Except this time, everything turned out OK.

Meche’s arm was fine and he pitched five innings, Bloomquist executed a perfect hit-and-run that moved Suzuki to third base and Jeremy Reed drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth that brought home the winning run.

All that, plus closer Eddie Guardado’s 27th save, secured a 5-4 victory over the Twins at Safeco Field.

The hit-and-run call wasn’t manager Mike Hargrove’s first choice to move Suzuki into scoring position after his leadoff single in the eight and the score tied. He flashed the bunt sign, but Bloomquist popped it over the backstop.

Out of that failure, Hargrove noticed an opportunity.

He saw that Twins third baseman Terry Tiffee and first baseman Justin Morneau were charging to field the bunt, and that second baseman Nick Punto was breaking early to cover first base. Hargrove changed the bunt sign to hit-and-run.

“It’s one of those things that your baseball instinct says it’s not a bad play to try,” Hargrove said. “Willie handles the bat well and with their infield moving like it was, it opens a lot of holes. If it works, it sure looks nice. If it doesn’t, you’re kicking yourself the whole night.”

Hargrove wasn’t kicking himself, especially after Bloomquist drove an opposite-field single to right, easily advancing Suzuki to third.

Suzuki stayed there through the next two hitters, when Twins reliever Jesse Crain got both Raul Ibanez and Richie Sexson to pop up.

Sexson’s pop carried into shallow center field and, even though Punto made a back-to-the-plate catch, Suzuki didn’t budge off third and risk being thrown out at the plate.

Bloomquist, however, saw the open bag at second and easily made it there, a decision that helped win the game when Crain fell into a three-ball bind against Adrian Beltre and, with nobody on first, decided to walk him intentionally.

“Willie has the guts of a burglar, but he knows how to play the game,” Hargrove said. “He knows when to do things and when not to do things. It’s fun to watch him.”

After Crain put Beltre on first to load the bases, Reed worked the count to 3-1, took a strike, then walked on a full-count fastball to force Suzuki home with the go-ahead run.

“He maximized his chances to get that run in,” Hargrove said. “Great at-bat.”

The Mariners’ comeback bailed pitcher Meche out of another difficult – and painful – start.

Despite taking Stewart’s line drive off his right forearm, Meche retired the first seven hitters he faced, then couldn’t seem to get anyone out in the third inning, when four straight Twins reached base and they scored four runs.

“I should have taken it in the back, but for some reason I stuck my pitching arm behind me,” Meche said. “But I didn’t feel it the whole time I was out there. I was fine.”

Meche breezed through a 1-2-3 fourth and escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fifth and was finished after 88 pitches.

The bullpen then shut down the Twins, beginning with left-hander Matt Thornton.

With a fastball that reached 97 mph, Thornton retired the first four Twins he faced – two on strikeouts. He threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

“Beyond the fact that he threw as hard as he did, what was impressive is that he came into a tie ballgame in the sixth inning and threw strikes,” Hargrove said. “That first inning he was out there, it was no contest. He threw the ball by some good hitters.”

So did left-hander George Sherrill, who inherited a first-and-second, one-out threat in the eighth and got out of it by getting Jacque Jones on a fly and Lew Ford on a strikeout.

The Mariners, meanwhile, came back against Twins starter Carlos Silva.

Chris Snelling, who went 2 for 2 and walked once, hit his second career home run in the third inning to cut the Twins’ lead to 4-1.

The Mariners scored twice in the fourth on RBI singles by Sexson and Reed, then tied the score 4-4 in the fifth when Bloomquist doubled to score Snelling, who led off with a walk.