M’s young arms showing age
DETROIT – This finale to a well-played series was supposed to be about Jarrod Washburn facing his former Mariners team and a guy many feel can replace him in Seattle’s rotation.
Instead, after another bullpen collapse, this time by David Aardsma in the ninth, the focus was on the state of the team’s younger relief arms as the humid August days grind down. Aardsma again was his worst enemy Thursday afternoon, yielding a leadoff walk in what became a 7-6 loss to the Detroit Tigers on a walkoff single by Clete Thomas.
After dodging a raucous on-field celebration by the Tigers, Aardsma stood by his locker and admitted he had to stop walking guys to start innings.
“It’s just about a walk,” he said, shaking his head. “I think it’s done me in three times already.”
A crowd of 31,167 at Comerica Park watched as, after the walk to Carlos Guillen, Miguel Cabrera doubled down the right-field line with one out to put runners at second and third. Magglio Ordonez was intentionally walked to load the bases and Brandon Inge hit a fly to right-center.
Mariners center fielder Franklin Gutierrez made an off-balance throw home that got away from catcher Kenji Johjima as Guillen collided with him. That tied the game, both runners moved up a base on the throwing error by Gutierrez and Thomas then sent a hard smash into right field to end it.
The loss spoiled a four-homer effort by the Mariners, with Jose Lopez, Johjima, Mike Sweeney and Russell Branyan connecting off Washburn in his first game against Seattle since being traded on July 31.
Seattle led 6-2 in the sixth, but faltering starter Ryan Rowland-Smith walked a pair of hitters on four pitches each to load the bases with one out.
“The first couple of innings were good, I had a good feel of everything,” said Rowland-Smith, who’d taken a line drive off his right calf in the first inning.
“And then, those last couple of innings, I couldn’t lock in. I had a little concentration lapse and it cost us big-time.”
Rowland-Smith was pulled just as a violent thunderstorm hit, causing a 58-minute delay.
When the tarp was lifted, all three runners left on by Rowland-Smith wound up scoring on a ground out and a single off reliever Chris Jakubauskas.