For all the Seattle Mariners have shown they can be at times this season – most recently exemplified by a brilliant three-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks over the weekend – they aren’t afraid to deliver frustrating reminders that they are far from a polished, or even finished, product. For parts of Tuesday’s 9-7 loss against the San Diego Padres, the Mariners showed both aspects.
Even against a team like the Padres (31-38), whom they should have handled with relative ease, the Mariners showed it’s rarely going to be that simple.
The Mariners came into the start of a very sweepable series against the NL West doormats with a fair amount of momentum with a sweep of Arizona that pushed them over .500 at 35-34 and just two and half games out of first place in the American League West.
But an inconsistent showing from starter Garrett Olson, a shaky performance from reliever Roy Corcoran, less-than-stellar hitting against San Diego starter Chad Gaudin and 9-2 deficit at one point were all just too much to overcome, dropping the Mariners back to .500.
In the search for positives, Seattle’s furious late-innings rally to cut a 9-2 deficit to 9-7 and bring the game-winning run to the plate twice in the bottom of the ninth was something for manager Don Wakamatsu to praise.
“Just to battle back,” Wakamatsu said. “This team does not give up. To be able to at least have a chance to come back and tie it was awfully exciting.”
It wasn’t a surprise that Seattle cut into the 9-2 lead after Gaudin left in the seventh. Against Gaudin, who came in with a 2-6 record and a 5.98 ERA, the Mariners managed just two runs and four hits – one of them a Ken Griffey solo home run, which was the 5,000th in Mariners history. But mostly, the Mariners weren’t making contact against Gaudin (3-6), who struck out 11.
“For me, it was his breaking ball,” Wakamatsu said. “He had an extremely good breaking ball and kept hitters off balance.”
Once Gaudin left, the Mariners had little trouble hitting Padres relievers.
Seattle scored four runs in the eighth off reliever Greg Burke.
Russell Branyan launched a two-run homer to right, while Wladimir Balentien singled home a run, and Mike Carp added a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 9-6.
In the ninth, against closer Heath Bell, Seattle scored a run on Mike Sweeney’s pinch-hit single off the glove of San Diego third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff. Down 9-7, the Mariners had runners on first and second with one out, but Griffey flew out to center and Franklin Gutierrez grounded out to end the game.
“To come back and score six runs over the last four innings and five over the last two, it showed this team does not want to give up,” Wakamatsu said.
Still overcoming a 9-2 deficit is asking a lot.
How did the Mariners get in such a precarious position?
Well, Olson, who a week ago limited San Diego to three runs on two hits in six innings, wasn’t quite as crisp after the first few innings. Consequently, he got punished for it. It started in the fourth, when he left a fastball belt high and over the center of the plate to Adrian Gonzalez with a runner on – the one player in San Diego’s lineup you can’t do that against. Gonzalez promptly redirected the ball over the right- field wall to give the Padres a 2-1 lead.
In the fifth inning, Olson (2-2) gave up a double to light-hitting catcher Henry Blanco, who later scored on a single from No. 9 hitter Everth Cabrera. Olson seemed a little flustered and allowed Cabrera to steal back-to-back bases. David Eckstein then scored Cabrera with a looping single to right.
“It’s the little things we talk about being successful,” Wakamatsu said. “I thought (Olson) had great stuff today, but the little things like the high pitch to Gonzalez and controlling the running game hurt him.”
Olson wouldn’t make it out of the fifth.
He got a quick out, but then gave up a single and a double. Wakamatsu brought in Corcoran to stop the bleeding, but he walked the first two batters he faced – the second with the bases loaded, scoring a run for San Diego.
“There were some borderline pitches there,” Wakamatsu said.
San Diego tacked on four more runs on an infield single, two blooping singles and a shallow sacrifice fly to go up 9-1.
“Things got a little hand in that inning,” Wakamatsu said.
The Mariners finished with 10 hits, but 12 strikeouts.
Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483
ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com
blogs.thenewstribune.com
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