Jakubauskas does impression of Silva
MINNEAPOLIS – At least the Seattle Mariners didn’t have to spend the night worrying about their own offense yet again.
They were far too concerned with what the Minnesota Twins’ offense was doing, specifically to rookie fifth starter Chris Jakubauskas, who has rapidly become the second part of a two-pronged problem in the starting rotation.
Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu had wanted to await the outcome of this game, an eventual 11-0 loss to the Twins on Friday night, before making a decision on upcoming rotation moves.
And the latest implosion by Jakubauskas, who allowed three home runs over just 41/3 innings and had a potential fourth long ball hit the top of the wall in center field, complicates matters for the first-year manager.
The Mariners had already considered taking the struggling Carlos Silva out of the rotation for a bit in order to ease his mind and get him back to the basics of what they think he can still be.
One of the scenarios was to have relief pitcher Jason Vargas, a starter at Triple-A Tacoma until his call-up last week, take Silva’s rotation spot. But now, with Jakubauskas having failed to go five innings in three of his past four starts, the debate is on as to whether he can be allowed another rotation turn.
With injured left hander Ryan Rowland-Smith not due back for another three to four weeks, the Mariners are limited in the number of replacement starters they can trot out there. They did recall lefty Garrett Olson from Triple-A this week, but he drew mixed reviews for a five-inning, three-runs-allowed relief performance in Kansas City a few nights ago.
The Seattle offense, missing in action all week, was stymied in this one by struggling Twins starter Scott Baker, who entered with an unimpressive 0-4 record and 9.15 earned run average. Baker yielded a couple of early hits, but then retired 10 in a row at one point and was able to cruise through seven scoreless frames.
Jakubauskas had no such luck, giving up a pair of first-inning runs, then a three-run homer in the second inning to No. 9 hitter Brendan Harris.
In the fifth inning, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau hit consecutive home runs off Jakubauskas, who would go on to issue an additional walk and a single before being lifted.
Miguel Batista came in from there and surrendered a three-run homer to Brian Buscher, two of those runs getting tacked on to Jakubauskas’ pitching line.
It appears that the fairy-tale story of Jakubauskas, who was pitching in the independent leagues two years ago, might have ended in front of 29,714 fans at the Metrodome. At least where the starting rotation is concerned because Jakubauskas, aside from a two-hit, complete game loss to the White Sox last week, has not delivered the innings expected of him.
He wound up throwing 103 pitches over his 41/3 innings in this one, yielding nine runs on eight hits, three walks with the three homers and two doubles thrown in.
Aside from the Chicago game and the 51/3 innings he threw in his first start against the Oakland Athletics, his other three outings have been abbreviated ventures.
That’s the big reason he sports a 0-4 record and 8.17 ERA as the fifth starter in Rowland-Smith’s spot.
Jakubauskas seemed squeezed by a tight strike zone from plate umpire Chuck Meriwether in the key second inning and never really adjusted.
After walking consecutive batters, he fell behind 3-1 in the count to Harris and watched the No. 9 hitter take him deep the opposite way to right center.
That made it 5-0 and, the way the Mariners have scraped for runs lately, the game was pretty much done.