M’s turn things around
NEW YORK – A night after taking a five-run lead in the first inning at Boston and going on to lose, the Seattle Mariners fell behind by five in the first and beat the New York Yankees
Go figure.
“It was one of those nights. Some new phase of the moon,” Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said after Seattle teed off in a 15-11 victory Friday night.
Yuniesky Betancourt hit a tiebreaking two-run double in an eight-run fifth inning. Every starter in Seattle’s batting order had a hit and a run scored, seven of nine had RBIs, and the Mariners had a season-high 20 hits. Jose Lopez drove in four runs, and Raul Ibanez had four hits.
“It’s kind of crazy,” Jose Guillen said.
Guillen, Kenji Johjima, Betancourt and Lopez – the bottom four batters in the starting lineup – combined to go 9 for 18 with 10 RBIs as Seattle scored its most runs in three years. The first eight Mariners reached base in the fifth inning against Kei Igawa, Colter Bean (0-1) and Luis Vizcaino, a half-inning that took 30 minutes and made Yankees manager Joe Torre feel helpless.
“Five in the first, unless you can shut the other team down, is obviously not enough in today’s baseball,” Torre said. “Thirty years ago or 25 years ago, it was probably a little different.”
New York, which set season highs for runs and hits (16), loaded the bases with one out in the ninth before J.J. Putz got Johnny Damon to pop out and Derek Jeter to ground out for his sixth save in six chances. Jeter went 0 for 6 for the third time in his big- league career, ending his hitting streak at 20 games, and the Yankees’ three-game winning streak was stopped.
“When you score 15 runs, you don’t expect the tying run to be at the plate in the ninth,” Hargrove said. “It’s like someone’s sticking bamboo shoots under your fingernails.”
Given a 5-0 lead in the first, Kei Igawa gave up home runs to Johjima, Adrian Beltre and Lopez, whose two-run drive in the fourth tied it at 6.
Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run double in the bottom half off Eric O’Flaherty (1-0), who got his first major league win with 2 1/3 innings of one-run relief, but Igawa allowed consecutive singles to Jose Vidro and Ibanez leading off the bottom half, and the Mariners scored eight runs, their biggest inning since scoring eight last May 26 against San Diego.
“It was ugly, but I’ll take it,” O’Flaherty said. “I’ll definitely remember this one.”
Bean threw four of 17 pitches for strikes, allowing two hits and two walks, and was repeatedly and loudly booed by the crowd of 49,519. Vizcaino gave up hits to four of his first five batters.
“No excuses. Just horrible,” Bean said.
Igawa, whose ERA rose to 7.63, pitched from the stretch at all times for the second straight outing. He allowed eight runs and nine hits in four-plus innings. While Chien-Ming Wang pitches for New York today, the Yankees plan to start Darrell Rasner on Sunday and Matt DeSalvo on Monday in his major league debut.
Seattle starter Cha Seung Baek wasn’t much better than Igawa, giving up seven runs and eight hits in 3 2/3 innings.
Bean came in with a two-run lead, two on and no outs and threw eight straight balls, forcing in a run with a walk to Guillen. After Johjima’s tying single and Betancourt’s double, Vizcaino relieved and allowed two-run singles by Lopez and Ibanez that made it 14-8.
Johnny Damon hit a three-run homer in the seventh off George Sherrill that cut New York’s deficit to 15-11. Sherrill had gone 88 appearances since his previous homer allowed, to Texas’ Mark Teixeira on Sept. 18, 2005.
“We just couldn’t stop them,” Jeter said.
Makeup dates set
Three of the four Mariners-Indians games postponed by snow will be made up at Jacobs Field (May 21, June 11 and Aug. 30).
The fourth game will be played in Seattle on Sept. 26 as part of a doubleheader in which Cleveland will be the host team in the opener.