M’s rally late to beat Tampa Bay
SEATTLE – Jeff Weaver had long checked out after another brief outing when the rest of the Seattle Mariners showed him how to go the distance and win.
Weaver coughed up five runs in 1 1/3 innings, then the Mariners’ bullpen and hitters showed some mettle in an 8-7 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Safeco Field.
The Mariners scored five runs in the eighth inning, including Yuniesky Betancourt’s two-run, two-out double off the left-field wall that tied the score at 7. Adrian Beltre followed with a single to left field that scored Betancourt with the go-ahead run.
J.J. Putz, in his first save opportunity since Aug. 24, retired all three hitters he faced in the ninth.
“They got mad,” manager John McLaren said. “I could hear them on the bench. We got behind and they got mad. They were saying, ‘Let’s go, we can get this.’ “
The Mariners have won three of five games and, for the first time since Aug. 23 and 24, they have a two-game winning streak.
The victory allowed the Mariners to gain ground in both the American League West Division and A.L. wild-card standings after both the Angels and Yankees lost.
They’re 8 ½ games behind the first-place Angels in the A.L. West and 5 ½ behind the Yankees in the wild-card race with 17 games to play.
“We know we’re in a tough situation,” McLaren said. “But we leave it on the field every night, I can tell you.”
It took some resilience by both the relievers and hitters to liven a night that began like a dirge because of Weaver. He allowed one run in the first inning, and four in the second.
Weaver is 0-2 with a 13.18 ERA in his past four starts, and asked if he would get another one, McLaren wouldn’t answer.
“It’s happened to a couple of our starters,” McLaren said. “They seem to be throwing good in the first inning. I don’t know what happens in the second.”
The Mariners’ three veteran starters – Weaver, Miguel Batista and Jarrod Washburn – are 0-8 with a 7.76 ERA since Aug. 25.
This time, the bullpen saved them.
Right-hander Sean White pitched 4 1/3 solid innings, allowing only Greg Norton’s two-run homer in the sixth, and left-hander Ryan Rowland-Smith gave up one hit in 2 1/3 innings.
Rowland-Smith, who recorded his first major league victory, gave up a leadoff single to B.J. Upton in the seventh, then picked him off first base and struck out the next five Devil Rays he faced.