M’s pick up where they left off
SEATTLE – It’s one thing for the Mariners to talk about never giving up.
But a scrambling, scampering Adrian Beltre turned those words into action on the basepaths in a decisive fifth inning Thursday night. Beltre somehow fooled both the Detroit Tigers and second-base umpire Bruce Froemming on a wacky mad dash that led to three Seattle runs in a 3-2 victory.
Beltre had driven in a pair of tying runs with a single, but appeared about to be thrown out while attempting to take second on the same play. Somehow, he dived, slid, dodged and avoided being called out at second, then got up and ran to third as the protesting Tigers screamed and hollered that he was already out.
Tigers shortstop Carlos Guillen appeared to tag Beltre twice before he reached third. Richie Sexson, who was on first base before the single, made it all the way home for a third Seattle run that inning as the Tigers chased Beltre around.
Guillen threw up his arms in frustration at the non-calls and the crowd of 31,994 at Safeco Field erupted in cheers as they realized Beltre was safe and that all three runs would count.
“There was no way I could come back to second because he (Guillen) was just standing right there,” Beltre said. “I was trying to get my way around. But I turned around and my only way was to third, so I took off.”
Detroit manager Jim Leyland raced on to the field to argue the call. Even more bizarre, once order had been restored, was that Beltre was called out at second when the Tigers made an appeal play to the bag.
Television replays appeared to show Beltre had touched second before sliding on past the base, meaning he would have to have been tagged to be out. But Froemming, possibly missing his second call in a matter of seconds, ruled Beltre had missed the bag.
“He said that I never touched the bag, which I did,” Beltre said. “He (Guillen) might have tagged me, I don’t know. It was weird because I was trying to swing away from him. I don’t know if he tagged me.”
The bottom line though, is that Beltre’s bases-loaded single helped Seattle open the post-All-Star-break portion of the schedule with a fourth consecutive victory. The Mariners did it behind the tough pitching of Felix Hernandez, who never let up in 6 1/3 gritty innings.
Seattle is 39-2 when leading after the sixth inning and the bullpen didn’t fail Hernandez this time. Sean Green got the final two outs of the seventh with a runner on, George Sherrill and Chris Reitsma took care of the eighth and J.J. Putz closed out the ninth.
Putz notched his 25th save in as many tries and tied Eddie Guardado’s team record for the most consecutive saves, notching his 27th dating back to last season.
“I feel honored to be (mentioned) in the same name as Eddie Guardado,” Putz said. “A great competitor. A great closer. It’s nice, but it’s even nicer that we got the win coming off the All-Star break.”