Ryan cashes in
Mariners’ ninth-inning rally makes winner out of Felix
SEATTLE – Before he could really turn around, Brendan Ryan was being lifted off the ground to get a good view of the scrum that was about to take place.
To no one’s surprise, it was Felix Hernandez hoisting Ryan in the air.
“I’ll take a bloody nose. I don’t care. It’s always worth it,” Ryan said.
Ryan made a winner out of Hernandez with a two-out RBI single up the middle in the ninth inning, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox 3-2 on Friday night.
Always showing his emotions on the mound, Hernandez was furious with himself after giving up a tying home run to Carlos Quentin leading off the seventh. He smacked his glove in excitement after striking out Alex Rios to end the ninth, then was in the middle of the celebration after Ryan’s single.
Hernandez (4-2) tossed his second complete game of the season and the 15th of his career, striking out six and giving up five hits.
He was brilliant early, retiring the first nine in order on just 30 pitches, then overcame his own mistakes to give Seattle’s bats a chance at the end.
“I was pounding the strike zone. The sinker was pretty good today,” Hernandez said. “I got a lot of groundballs. The first three innings I threw mostly fastballs and then started mixing it up. Everything was working.”
Seattle squandered plenty of chances before the ninth inning arrived, having left runners in scoring position in the third, sixth and eighth innings.
Jack Cust started the winning rally with a one-out single off Chicago’s Matt Thornton (0-3) and Jack Wilson followed with another hit just over the glove of leaping second baseman Gordon Beckham. Adam Kennedy came on as a pinch runner for Cust and Michael Saunders hit a fly ball deep enough to move Kennedy to third.
Ryan, who snapped a 0-for-21 skid on Thursday night, then lined a 1-0 pitch past Beckham’s diving attempt to score the winning run. Seattle has won eight of 10 and is within one win of .500.
Mariners 3, White Sox 2
| Chicago | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| Pierre lf | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .256 |
| Al.Ramirez ss | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .250 |
| A.Dunn dh | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .149 |
| Konerko 1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .288 |
| Quentin rf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .275 |
| Pierzynski c | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .238 |
| Rios cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .178 |
| Teahen 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .234 |
| Beckham 2b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .211 |
| Totals | 30 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Seattle | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| I.Suzuki rf | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .304 |
| Figgins 3b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .222 |
| Bradley lf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .215 |
| Langerhans lf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .173 |
| Olivo c | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .200 |
| Smoak 1b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .315 |
| Cust dh | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .200 |
| A.Kennedy pr | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .275 |
| Ja.Wilson 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .243 |
| M.Saunders cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .184 |
| Ryan ss | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .191 |
| Totals | 32 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Chicago | 000 | 100 | 100—2 | 5 | 0 |
| Seattle | 000 | 002 | 001—3 | 7 | 0 |
LOB—Chicago 5, Seattle 7. 2B—Pierre (2), Beckham (6), Figgins (6), Bradley (6), Smoak (9), Ryan (5). HR—Quentin (7). RBIs—Konerko (26), Quentin (18), Bradley (13), Smoak (21), Ryan (7). SB—Figgins (6). S—Pierre, Figgins. SF—Konerko. RLSP—Chicago 2, Seattle 3. RMU—A.Dunn, I.Suzuki, Olivo, M.Saunders.
| Chicago | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
| Humber | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2.97 |
| Thornton L,0-3 | 12/3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7.36 |
| Seattle | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
| F.Hernandez W,4-2 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 3.02 |
T—2:27. A—31,912 (47,878).