Mariners’ rally comes up short

ARLINGTON, Texas – For decades, baseball has been dubbed a game of inches, although it may have become smaller than that for Jamie Moyer.

Men with high velocity can survive shaky location, get outs with mistakes, throw a fastball past a hitter. Moyer, 43, hasn’t done that in years – and his margin for error may be shrinking.

Over six innings and a 20-minute rain delay Saturday, Moyer threw 107 pitches and saw two of them hit over the fence, and those home runs were the difference in the Texas Rangers’ 5-4 victory over the Mariners.

It didn’t help that for the ninth time this season Seattle didn’t score a run while Moyer was in the game.

By the time they got around to that, it was the eighth inning, and by then all a four-run rally did was get the Mariners tantalizingly close and remind them of what might have been had two Rangers hits stayed in the park.

Or if Seattle hadn’t left the bases loaded twice without scoring.

“This is a park where three, four, five runs might not be enough of a lead,” Moyer said. “You saw that tonight. We were down 5-0, and battled back.”

The Mariners picked up four in the eighth and left the potential tying run at second base when pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs struck out. In the ninth, Adrian Beltre’s two-out double and a walk to Raul Ibañez put the game in the hands of Richie Sexson.

Sexson drove a pitch toward right-center field, but Gary Matthews Jr. ran it down to end it.

“If Matthews is playing Richie to pull, maybe three feet further over, we’re still playing,” manager Mike Hargrove said.

Moyer (6-11) couldn’t have won any of the nine games in which his teammates couldn’t score, but that’s only been part of the left-hander’s problem.

Getting the lowest run support of any A.L. pitcher, Moyer is a meticulous pitcher who knows mistakes he got away with even a few years ago are no longer likely to be missed. When your pitches are clocked at between 68-83 mph, it’s harder to fool a major league hitter.

Matched against rookie right-hander Edinson Volquez, Moyer gave up solo home runs to Gary Matthews Jr. and Gerald Laird.

“I left a pitch up to Matthews and he hit it out. I think the pitch to Laird was away,” Moyer said.

And those missed opportunities.

Twice, rookie center fielder Adam Jones came up with two outs and the bases loaded, and Seattle didn’t score either time. Once, he grounded out. Once, he struck out.

Rangers 5, Mariners 4

a-struck out for Jones in the 8th. E—Kinsler (13). LOB—Seattle 10, Texas 9. 2B—Beltre (31), Sexson (21), Bloomquist (4), Matthews (37), Kinsler (17). HR—Laird (6), off Moyer; Matthews (14), off Moyer. RBIs— Johjima (52), YBetancourt 2 (38), Bloomquist (10), Matthews (61), MYoung (77), DeRosa (61), Laird (21), Cruz (3). SB—Teixeira (2). S—Laird. SF—Cruz. GIDP—CaLee. Runners left in scoring position—Seattle 6 (Sexson, Jones 4, Dobbs); Texas 3 (Blalock, Kinsler 2). DP—Seattle 1 (YBetancourt, JoLopez and Sexson).

Inherited runners-scored—Bauer 1-1. HBP—by JMateo (Blalock). T—3:10. A—35,784 (48,911).