Exhausted M’s hold on for win

SEATTLE – Operating on more fumes than Gasoline Alley at the Indy 500, the Seattle Mariners’ bullpen limped to the finish of a 5-4 victory over the Texas Rangers Saturday night at Safeco Field.

Stressed by 18 games in 18 days, plus the need for 5 1/3 innings of relief Friday, the bullpen was worn down, if not worn out. There already were two of them on the disabled list – Chris Reitsma and Sean White – and the freshest arm belonged to Jon Huber, called up earlier in the day from Triple-A Tacoma.

“We need to fight through this and stay together until we get everybody 100 percent again,” said bench coach John McLaren, who is running the team while manager Mike Hargrove attends his daughter’s high school graduation this weekend. “Some guys we’re overusing a little bit.”

Ichiro Suzuki’s franchise-record hitting streak rolled to a stop as well. He went 0 for 4 to end his hitting streak at 25 games, best in the American League this season.

As noteworthy as that was, the tired bullpen was the key to finishing the victory.

With the Mariners needing a strong – and long – outing from starter Miguel Batista, he gave it for 6 1/3 innings. Batista held the Rangers to five hits and found himself in trouble only in the third and fifth innings when they put runners into scoring position.

Batista pitched through both of those situations and cruised into the seventh with a 5-0 lead. He struck out Marlon Byrd to start the seventh, then wore down as his pitch count climbed. Ian Kinsler singled and Batista walked the next hitter, Gerald Laird, with his 113th pitch of the night.

“He was getting up in pitches – 118 was the most he’s ever thrown this year,” McLaren said.

The Mariners dipped into the most worn-down part of the team – the bullpen – and managed to hold on.

Left-hander Eric O’Flaherty (who pitched 1 2/3 innings Friday) inherited a two-on, one-out situation and quickly struck out Ramon Vazquez for the second out. But he walked Kenny Lofton to load the bases and hit Michael Young with a pitch to force home a run.

Right-hander Brandon Morrow (two-thirds of an inning Friday) took over and struggled to control his high-octane pitches, walking both Mark Teixeira and Sammy Sosa to force home two runs before striking out Frank Catalanotto to end the inning.

The Mariners still led 5-3, but remained in danger of running out of arms.

Huber started the eighth, striking out Byrd for the first out but giving up a double to Kinsler.

That’s when McLaren and pitching coach Rafael Chaves decided not to mess around any longer. They brought in closer J.J. Putz, who was 12 for 12 in save opportunities this season and needed only five outs to make it 13.

He did, although it wasn’t a breeze. Putz used 17 pitches to get out of the eighth and 19 in the ninth.

He got Laird on a fly ball and Vazquez with a strikeout to end the eighth and seemed to be cruising through the top of the Rangers’ order in the ninth.

Lofton grounded out to shortstop, Michael Young grounded out to second base and Putz got a couple of strikes on Teixeira, who stayed alive with four foul balls and worked a full count. Then he crushed a Putz fastball into the second deck in right field, his 10th homer this season and the first run Putz has allowed in a save situation this season.

It also brought the Rangers within one swing of tying the score, and Sosa stood at the plate trying to do it. Putz ended the suspense by getting him on a grounder to shortstop.

“It wasn’t an easy win, but J.J. picked us up big time,” McLaren said. “We didn’t want to go to him that early in the game, but he picked us up big time.”

Today, the Mariners will need another pitcher to step up and give them innings – starter Ryan Feierabend. That’ll be a chore, because he hasn’t pitched nine innings his entire pro career.

Beltre, White out

The Mariners will play without third baseman Adrian Beltre for at least a couple of games and relief pitcher Sean White for at least 15 days.

Beltre had his left hand wrapped after spraining his thumb while diving for a ball during Friday’s game. White was placed on the 15-day disabled list with tendinitis (right biceps).

Wrong call

A misinterpretation of the ground rules cost the Mariners a run in Friday’s game, which they lost by a run.

The Rangers’ Victor Diaz hit a drive down the right field line that landed on the warning track in fair territory, then bounced over the wall in foul territory and back into play.

Diaz reached second with a double and Sammy Sosa scored from first base, although he shouldn’t have.

The ball bounced back into play off netting that was installed in an effort to avoid confusion over just such a play. A wall behind the padded outfield fence is painted the same color, and umpires have had a difficult time determining if balls bouncing into the corner should be ground-rule doubles.

The netting was supposed to help solve the issue, although umpires mistakenly ruled that it was in play on Diaz’s hit.

Had it been a ground-rule double, Sosa would have been stopped at third base and wouldn’t have scored.

Pitchers gear up

The Mariners’ pitchers took a round of batting practice and the biggest boppers were Felix Hernandez and Jarrod Washburn. Hernandez hit several balls over the left-field fence and Washburn launched just as many into the right-field seats. The pitchers are preparing for interleague road games beginning Friday at San Diego.