Vargas throws third shutout as M’s pound Padres
SEATTLE – It wasn’t a great sign when many of the Seattle Mariners, clad in retro 1984 uniforms Friday night at Safeco Field, wore their stirrup socks backward. Subliminally, that’s not exactly what a struggling team needs as it tries to go forward.
Then again, maybe an inadvertent baseball fashion faux pas is just what the Mariners needed in order to, uh, turn things around.
That and left-hander Jason Vargas’ third shutout in his past six starts.
Vargas held the San Diego Padres to six hits and the Mariners backed him with their best spurt of offense in nearly three weeks in a 6-0 victory that ended a three-game losing streak.
Vargas pitched a complete-game shutout June 3 against the Rays and another June 19 against the Phillies, and in between his only stumble was June 13 when the Angels scored five runs off him in seven innings. In that six-game stretch, he’s 3-2 with one no-decision and a 2.28 earned run average.
“I’ve felt good like this before, but I’ve never been able to string this many together in such a short period of time,” said Vargas, 6-5 with a 3.57 ERA in 17 starts this season.
It wasn’t Vargas’ most efficient game of the season – he threw 101 pitches in nine shutout innings May 12 at Baltimore, a game that went 12 innings before the Mariners lost – but he still was economical with 106 pitches against the Padres.
“I looked up after the fifth or sixth inning and I had only 50-some pitches,” Vargas said. “I felt fresh at the end and actually felt almost better in the ninth than I did in the first, but that’s adrenaline.”
You look good when you feel good, although DH Jack Cust differed with that assessment of Vargas. The tight-fitting knit uniforms of 1984 looked good on some players, and otherwise on others.
“I guarantee, the Padres’ hitters were looking at him in that uniform and saying, ‘How can a guy that looks that bad be getting us out?’ ” Cust said. “I shouldn’t say anything. I looked just as bad.”
Maybe, although Cust performed well with the bat. His bases-loaded walk in the third inning scored the Mariners’ second run, and he hit an RBI double in the fifth.
Adam Kennedy hit an RBI single in the first inning and an RBI double in the sixth, and Carlos Peguero drove home two runs with a bases-loaded single in a three-run third.
The M’s won their 40th game. A year ago they didn’t win their 40th until Aug. 3.
Ackley ailing
The off day Thursday didn’t do a lot to solve the Mariners’ injury situation. Not only was catcher Miguel Olivo’s left leg still tender Friday, second baseman Dustin Ackley couldn’t play because of sore ribs. Manager Eric Wedge said Ackley’s injury isn’t serious.