Pirates keep Mariners sinking
SEATTLE – A day off may have given the Seattle Mariners a chance to rest and relax, but it still didn’t excuse the starting pitchers from what has become the bane of their losing streak.
The starters have been roughed up early, driving up their pitch counts, forcing the relievers to work overtime and requiring the offense to make up for their problems. For six games, none of that has been a winning formula.
It happened again Tuesday when the Pittsburgh Pirates dragged M’s starter Miguel Batista through a 34-pitch first inning and two quick runs on the way to a 5-3 victory over the Mariners at Safeco Field.
On a team that thrived two weeks ago only because the offense scored runs in huge amounts, a mere mortal output by the hitters this time couldn’t help the Mariners avoid a sixth straight loss, tying a season high.
Afterward, the silence in the clubhouse spoke volumes about what the Mariners are going through. Manager Mike Hargrove declined to hold his usual postgame visit with reporters and most players had scattered when the clubhouse doors were opened.
The Mariners never solved Pirates left-hander Tom Gorzelanny, who hardly fooled them in allowing eight hits in seven innings but got key outs when he needed them. That included struggling Richie Sexson the first two times he faced Gorzelanny with runners in scoring position.
With runners on second and third with two outs in the first, Gorzelanny got Sexson on a grounder to shortstop to that inning. In the third, he struck out Sexson with a runner on second base and one out.
Sexson went on to go 2 for 4, including a solo home run in the eighth, his 11th homer this season, after the Pirates had taken a 5-2 lead.
The Mariners had runners on base in all but the fourth inning, including the leadoff men in the second, third, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth. Only two of those scored, Kenji Johjima in the second on Ichiro Suzuki’s two-out single and Yuniesky Betancourt in the seventh on Jose Vidro’s sacrifice fly.
“We’ve lost six in a row. Is there a positive in that? I’m sure there is, but it’s hard to notice right now because we’re not winning,” left fielder Raul Ibanez said.
Batista is the last Mariners starter to win a game. That happened on June 2 against the Texas Rangers.
Tuesday, Batista became just another reason the M’s have struggled in this losing streak, needing to dig deep just to make it through 5 1/3 innings.
Sexson’s error on a ground ball cleared the way for both Pirates runs in the first inning and led to a deep hole that Batista helped dig.
Adam LaRoche drove in Nate McLouth with a single, Jason Bay also singled and Batista walked both Xavier Nady and Ryan Doumit to force in a run. Batista struck out Ronny Paulino to end the inning, but by that time he’d already thrown 34 pitches.
Batista settled down and threw 34 the next three innings, including seven in the second, but his rugged first-inning took a toll.
Sean Green relieved Batista with one out in the sixth and did his job by getting the next two hitters out, although Jose Bautista’s groundout to third allowed Nady to score, giving the Pirates a 4-1 lead.
They made it 5-1 in the seventh, scoring off Green.
J.J. Putz, rested because of the M’s losing streak, pitched for the first time in a week, striking out all three Pirates he faced in the ninth.
That took the game to a final at-bat, with the top of the Mariners’ order facing Damaso Marte, a former M’s minor leaguer.
Marte walked Ichiro on five pitches before getting Vidro on a fly to center.
The Pirates, operating without a closer in this series as Matt Capps serves a three-game suspension, then went to Shawn Chacon to get the final two outs.