Harris auditions for next season
SEATTLE – While Jeff Harris pitched like he’s already auditioning for a place on the roster next year – which he is – the Seattle Mariners walked off the field Saturday with an all-too-familiar feeling.
They lost for the 92nd time this season, 4-3 to the Oakland A’s when the Mariners’ defense, bullpen and paltry offense snatched the luster from a quality start by Harris.
The 31-year-old right-hander, who spent 11 years in the minor leagues before the Mariners called him up from Class AAA Tacoma in August, held the A’s to two hits and a run in 5 1/3 innings.
The A’s came back against the bullpen, scoring twice off Julio Mateo in the seventh and once in the ninth off Matt Thornton and Gil Meche.
Otherwise, Harris finished his season on a positive note after his eighth start.
“This was by far his best outing of the last four,” manager Mike Hargrove said. “He kept the ball down and kept it out of the middle of the plate.”
That tends to be the secret to any pitcher’s success, but especially for Harris. If he has a chance to make the team again next year, it’ll be in long relief, provided he solves control issues that plagued him when he struggled this season.
“Hopefully, I made a good impression,” Harris said. “It was always my dream to get here and I finally got here. Whatever happens after this, it’s icing on the cake. It’s been a long road to get here and I’d love to stay.”
Saturday, he handled starting well, despite his second straight no-decision.
The only backing he got were Yuniesky Betancourt’s two-run home run in the third inning and his sacrifice fly in the ninth, plus another push by Ichiro Suzuki to finish the season with a .300 batting average.
Ichiro, who reached the 200-hit mark for the fifth straight season on Friday, went 3 for 4 and raised his average to .304. He hasn’t finished with less than 208 hits since he came to the major leagues in 2001, and he enters today’s season finale sitting on 205.
All that hurt Harris was a one-out walk to Jason Kendall and an RBI double by Mark Kotsay, when the A’s took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Harris didn’t give up another hit until Marco Scutaro singled to center with two outs in the fifth.
By then, the Mariners had a 2-1 lead, courtesy of Betancourt’s first career home run.
With two outs in the seventh Scutaro doubled before Mark Ellis and Kendall hit RBI singles, putting the A’s ahead 3-2.
In the ninth the A’s padded their lead when Nick Swisher hit a one-out double off Thornton and scored when Scutaro lined a single up the middle off Meche, making it 4-2.
The Mariners threatened again in the ninth, loading the bases against reliever Houston Street.
Betancourt hit a sacrifice fly for a 4-3 score and a wild pitch put runners on second and third with two outs. Street then struck out Raul Ibanez to end the game.
It left the Mariners still reaching for their 70th victory of the season. Their last chance is today, when 19-year-old right-hander Felix Hernandez starts the final game.