Mariners lose to Rangers

SEATTLE – Seattle Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon playfully smiled when he looked around the room before Friday’s game and said, “What do you want to talk about, the world coming to an end or what?”

And indeed, the world, so far as we know, is not coming to an end. But the Mariners followed up McClendon’s calls for patience with a 3-1 loss to the Texas Rangers in front of 36,606 people Friday night.

The Mariners are 3-7, their worst record through the first 10 games of the season since they also opened the 2011 season 3-7.

After a punchless start to the game, the Mariners gave themselves a shot by manufacturing a run in the eighth inning that made it a one-run game. But then it slipped away.

It started with reliever Dominic Leone, who walked the first batter of the ninth inning. It continued with a double play that was overturned after a review, leaving a runner on first.

It got worse when a wild pitch from Leone advanced the runner to second and was compounded when catcher Mike Zunino sailed his throw to second into center field, advancing the runner to third.

And, finally, Adam Rosales’ ground ball bounced off third base, popping into the air and scoring a run to give the Rangers a 3-1 cushion.

Logan Morrison hit a fly ball in the ninth inning as far as he could hit one to right field without it leaving the park, but it was caught and it still would have left the Mariners down a run if it had cleared the fence.

Brad Miller led off the eighth inning with a double, snapping a streak of 18 plate appearances without a hit. He advanced to third on a deep fly ball from Austin Jackson, then scored on a sacrifice fly to center from Seth Smith.

It was the first time in three tries on the night that the Mariners scored a runner from third with less than one out.

Robinson Cano kept the inning alive with a two-out single, bringing Nelson Cruz to the plate. Cruz smacked a towering fly ball that sent gasps through the crowd, but instead of a home run it was a high fly ball to left field that ended the inning.

The shame of it all is that they wasted what turned out to be a perfectly good outing from pitcher J.A. Happ – his second such performance in as many starts this season.

Happ cracked, ever so slightly, early. He walked the first batter of the game, then gave up a double to Prince Fielder that put the Mariners in an early hole. And he gave up an opposite-field solo homer to Robinson Chirinos to start the fifth inning.

But those were the only blemishes on his resume from Friday, and he pitched well enough to keep his team right in the game, no matter how much the Mariners’ struggled at the plate.

Happ allowed five hits in seven innings and walked two, and it was only the second time this season that a Mariners starter had gone at least seven innings in a game.

The Mariners had other moments of opportunity, but squandered them.

There was the third inning, when the Mariners loaded the bases with one out – and Seth Smith grounded into a double play to end the threat.

Or there was the seventh inning, when the Mariners put their first hitter on base only to watch the chance disappear after strikeouts from Dustin Ackley and Mike Zunino.