Mariners slam Reds
SEATTLE – Almost as if to honor Ken Griffey Jr.’s return, Long Ball Weekend continued Saturday night at Safeco Field, and this time the Seattle Mariners got in on it.
After giving up five homers to the Cincinnati Reds on Friday, the Mariners hit four Saturday, including Raul Ibanez’s first-inning grand slam that launched a 9-1 victory.
The Mariners, 10th in the American League in home runs, scored eight of their nine runs on homers. Besides Ibanez’s drive around the right-field foul pole in the first inning off Reds starter Kyle Lohse, Richie Sexson hit a solo homer in the fourth inning and another in the eighth, giving him 14 this season, and Ben Broussard hit a two-run homer in the sixth, his fourth.
In addition, Ichiro Suzuki continued his climb toward the top of the A.L. hitting list, going 2 for 3 to raise his average to .361 and trail only the Tigers’ Magglio Ordonez, who is batting .381.
“We didn’t get a ton of hits, but we got them when they mattered,” said the man who enjoyed them most, starting pitcher Jarrod Washburn. “We’ve got a great offense and they’ve been rolling now for a while. Anytime you can put up a crooked number in the first inning, it’s a huge boost for us.”
It came in handy for Washburn, who appeared to have lost touch with his delivery in the second inning. He walked three and gave up a hit, but escaped without allowing a run, aided greatly by Alex Gonzalez’s baserunning gaffe when he rounded first base too far after his hit and was thrown out.
Washburn had thrown 41 pitches after two innings. He needed only 66 to get through eight before Brandon Morrow finished.
“It was one of those innings where you temporarily lose it and forget how to throw strikes,” said Washburn (6-6). “Luckily I figured it out in time to get out of the inning without any damage and stayed with it the rest of the game. I don’t know what clicked; I don’t know what didn’t click. It’s hard to fix what you don’t know went wrong.”
Washburn struck out Griffey twice and gave up a sixth-inning single to the former Mariners star. He also pitched with baserunners in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings but escaped each of those with double plays.
Brandon Phillips broke up the shutout with a solo home run in the eighth.
The only downer of the night for the Mariners was the loss of Ibanez in the fifth inning with a tight right hamstring. He had grounded into a double play in the third and, after playing the field in the top of the fourth and fifth innings, was replaced by Jason Ellison.
“He lunged as he got to the bag on the double play and he stretched it,” manager Mike Hargrove said. “We’re hoping it’s one to two days. It may be more than that, but we don’t think it’s anything serious.”
That could be important on a team that would be hampered by an extended injury to one of its starters. The Mariners moved ahead of Oakland and into second place in the A.L. West, but they remain eight games behind the first-place Angels.
“There’s a lot of baseball left and eight games can easily be made up, but we can’t do it if we’re not consistent,” Washburn said.
Consistency begins with good starting pitching, and the Mariners have gotten it in three of their past four starts, when the starters have gone at least eight innings.
“I think that off day (Monday) helped us, giving us an extra day of rest,” Washburn said. “We’re all capable of what we’re doing now. We’ve had three real good starts in the last four games, and hopefully it continues.”