Washburn clamps down on Sox
SEATTLE – This is an unsettled week for the Seattle Mariners’ pitching staff, which plows ahead unsure if Felix Hernandez will come off the disabled list this weekend or if struggling Jeff Weaver will get a start to redeem himself.
One constant in the starting rotation has emerged, however, and he proved his worth again Tuesday night.
Six days after he dusted off the Oakland A’s with a complete-game three-hitter, left-hander Jarrod Washburn held the Chicago White Sox to little more than two solo home runs in a 5-2 Mariners victory at Safeco Field.
“It’s my job to go out there and do that every time, if Felix is healthy or if he isn’t,” Washburn said. “I’m happy that I’ve been able to do that in his absence, but when he comes back I’m hoping to continue doing that.”
Washburn has won his past two games but has pitched quality baseball from the beginning, going at least six innings in each of his five starts this season.
“He’s really been that way in all his starts,” manager Mike Hargrove said. “He’s 2-2, but he very well could be 4-0.”
Washburn lasted seven innings, allowing four hits and giving Hargrove a perfect scenario to use the high-octane end of his bullpen. Brandon Morrow struck out the side in the eighth inning and J.J. Putz pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save.
With the Mariners scoring in a variety of ways – Richie Sexson hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning and Raul Ibanez delivered a two-run single in the eighth to break open a one-run game – they surpassed .500 at 11-10.
The Mariners have won six of their past seven games.
“We’re finally getting into a rhythm,” Washburn said. “We’re getting to play on a regular basis and not have the weather affect us. We’ve said all along that we’re a good club that’s capable of winning this division.”
They had the formula, getting solid pitching against a White Sox team that’s among the league leaders in home runs, plus timely hitting against a pitcher, Javier Vazquez, who baffled them early.
The Mariners didn’t have a base runner until catcher Jamie Burke’s two-out double in the third. Then they reached Vazquez with three hits and three runs in the fourth, keyed by Sexson’s fourth homer this season, to overcome a 1-0 White Sox lead.
“Did we click on all cylinders tonight? This is probably as close as we’ve come,” Hargrove said.
Washburn allowed a third-inning homer to Luis Terrero and a seventh-inning shot by A.J. Pierzynski, whose high fly scraped the right-field foul pole on the way down.
Washburn then handed the heavy-hitting White Sox over to Morrow, whose fastball rendered them defenseless. The rookie right-hander struck out Darin Erstad with a 96 mph fastball, Alex Cintron with another at 96 and, after walking Tadahito Iguchi, left Jermaine Dye gawking at a 97 mph fastball at the knees on a 3-2 count.
That set up the ninth for Putz, who was gifted a three-run cushion when Ibanez hit a two-run single off former Mariner Matt Thornton with two outs in the bottom of the eighth.
That was a makeup moment for Ibanez, who blamed himself for a strange double play in the sixth that cost the Mariners a run. He was on first base and Adrian Beltre on third with one out when Sexson launched a drive to the warning track in center field.
It seemed a certain sacrifice fly.
As Beltre made a leisurely break off third, however, Ibanez tried to high-tail his way to second base and the White Sox threw him out. He was tagged before a stunned Beltre reached the plate.