M’s playing spoiler
DETROIT – Jeremy Bonderman took the blame for the Detroit Tigers’ latest loss, even though he wasn’t the pitcher of record.
Bonderman blew an early three-run lead, and the Seattle Mariners went on to beat Detroit 4-3 Tuesday night, cutting the Tigers’ lead to just four games over Minnesota. The Tigers, who have lost nine of 13, had a 10-game edge in the division on Aug. 8.
“This is my fault,” he said. “I’m the starting pitcher, and it is my job to keep us in the lead. I didn’t do that.”
Bonderman is 0-3 in his last eight starts since his previous win on July 24.
“Jeremy has been a little sluggish for whatever reason, and we have to get him out of it,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “We need him bad.”
Joel Pineiro (8-11) came on after a long rain delay and worked 3 2/3 innings of perfect relief to help the Mariners to just their second win in 16 road games.
“I kept the ball down, and they made some great plays behind me,” Pineiro said. “We’ve still got something to play for – spoiling other teams.”
Pineiro, who came into a 3-3 game to start the fifth inning after a 1 hour, 23-minute delay, retired all 11 batters he faced. He struck out four.
J.J. Putz got the final four outs for his 30th save.
Seattle took a 4-3 lead in the sixth against rookie Andrew Miller (0-1). With one out, Ben Broussard walked, took third on Johjima’s single and scored on Adrian Beltre’s groundout.
Seattle’s four runs scored on a bloop single, an error and two groundouts.
“We put the ball in play,” Seattle manager Mike Hargrove said. “That made things happen.”
Detroit took a 3-0 lead in the first. Granderson led off with a triple and scored on Craig Monroe’s single. Marcus Thames walked, and after Ordonez flew out, Ivan Rodriguez hit a two-run double off the scoreboard in right-center field.
The Tigers, though, only managed two more hits off Woods.
The Mariners tied it with three runs in the fourth.
With one out, Raul Ibanez singled and moved to third on Richie Sexson’s ground-rule double. Bonderman walked Broussard to load the bases, and Johjima’s bloop single made it 3-1.
Brandon Inge then misplayed Beltre’s grounder to allow a second run to score, and Jose Lopez tied the game with an RBI groundout.
“I’ve got to do a better job of giving us a chance to win than I’ve done lately,” said Bonderman. ” This is going to be a dogfight down the stretch, and we have to find a way to hold our ground.”