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Washburn dazzles Rays

Seattle starter Jarrod Washburn overwhelmed Tampa Bay Wednesday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Kirby Arnold Everett Herald
Seattle starter Jarrod Washburn overwhelmed Tampa Bay Wednesday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

SEATTLE – They couldn’t beat the best team in a mediocre division. Then they couldn’t lose to the worst team in a good division.

After three straight losses to Oakland and a three-game sweep of Tampa Bay, including Wednesday’s 2-0 victory at Safeco Field on Jarrod Washburn’s best game of the season, the Seattle Mariners stand to learn exactly who they are in the next 11 days.

Tonight, the Mariners begin a stretch of 11 straight road games against American League West Division opponents, first facing the Texas Rangers. They trail the first-place A’s, who lost Wednesday, by 5 1/2 games and know the head-to-head games against Texas, Oakland and the Los Angeles Angels are crucial, even though more than a month remains in the season.

“We’re getting closer every day to that make-or-break time,” Washburn said.

To keep from breaking, the Mariners will need pitching from their starters like they got from Washburn.

Backed again into the corner of low run support, Washburn attacked it the best way possible. He threw his best fastball this season and had the Devil Rays popping it up if they were hitting it at all.

Washburn didn’t allow a hit through five innings, and Ben Zobrist’s bunt single leading off the sixth broke up the no-hitter.

Nobody cried that Zobrist had disturbed any unwritten rule about laying one down in a situation like that. It did, however, stir memories of the controversy that swirled around former Mariner Ben Davis, who was catching for the San Diego Padres in 2001 when he bunted in the eighth to break up Curt Schilling’s perfect game for Arizona.

Washburn pitched on, retiring the next three Devil Rays to stop them in the sixth, including strikeouts of Tomas Perez and Damon Hollins.

Adrian Beltre’s RBI single in the first inning drove in Ichiro Suzuki, who had led off with a double and reached third on Jose Lopez’s sacrifice bunt. Beltre led off the fourth with his 13th home run, driving a one-strike pitch from Devil Rays starter James Shields over the center-field fence for a 2-0 lead.

Washburn got two outs in the seventh, but also gave up back-to-back hits to Travis Lee and B.J. Upton as he wore down. Hargrove let the bullpen protect the 2-0 lead.

Rafael Soriano got the next four outs to get to the ninth.

J.J. Putz overmatched the Devil Rays in the ninth to record his 25th save.